Today’s ruling on Tim Owen KC will have a significant impact on the presence of overseas lawyers and judges in the city going forward

Today, Hong Kong’s Court of First Instance rejected an appeal from Jimmy Lai’s legal team to challenge the decision made by Hong Kong’s Chief Executive to bar Tim Owen KC from representing Jimmy Lai in his pending national security trial.

As part of the ruling which seeks to bar overseas lawyers from national security cases, Chief Judge of the High Court Jeremy Poon stated that the courts do not have any power or jurisdiction over the work of the Committee for Safeguarding National Security as they sit outside of the courts constitutional competence.

The ruling went onto state that under Article 14 of the National Security Law detailing the functions and duties of the Committee for Safeguarding National Security, the courts do not have the institutional capacity, expertise, or training to have jurisdiction to challenge the decisions of the Committee chaired by Chief Executive John Lee.

Judge Poon concludes that it is only logical that the work of the Committee for Safeguarding National Security sits outside of the supervisory jurisdiction of the courts and should not be subject to judicial review.

Commenting on the ruling, Sam Goodman, Director of Policy at Hong Kong Watch, said:

“Today’s ruling puts to rest erroneous and wishful thinking that the courts or individual judges have the necessary judicial independence to challenge and check the ongoing human rights crackdown in Hong Kong and to ensure that political prisoners receive a fair trial.

There is no such thing as a common law system which operates with “Chinese Communist Party” characteristics.

It is clear that the barring of Tim Owen KC from Jimmy Lai’s trial will have a significant impact on the presence of overseas lawyers and judges in the city going forward. Given the vague and arbitrary definition of national security, it is inevitable that this ruling will bleed into civil and commercial cases.

Rather than continue to offer a fake veneer of legitimacy to a rule of law and common law system that has been systematically dismantled by Beijing, foreign judges should consider their position and resign from the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal.”