Judges Sound Alarm Over 'disturbing' Fugitive Laws

Some Hong Kong judges have warned that the government's planned changes to extradition laws mark one of the starkest challenges to the SAR's legal system, and they fear they are being put on a collision course with Beijing.

Three senior judges and 12 leading commercial and criminal lawyers say that under Hong Kong’s common law system, extraditions are based on the presumption of a fair trial and humane punishment in the receiving country – a core trust they say the mainland's Communist Party-controlled legal system has not earned.

“These amendments ignore the importance of that trust - and in the case of the mainland, it simply doesn’t exist,” one highly experienced judge told Reuters on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter.

“Many of us see this as unworkable,” the judge said. “And we are deeply disturbed.”

Some judges say Beijing's increasingly close relationship with Hong Kong and the limited scope of extradition hearings would leave them little room to manoeuvre. They worry that if they tried to stop high-profile suspects from being sent across the border, they would be exposed to criticism and political pressure from Beijing.

Conversely, they say, if they approve contentious extradition requests, local critics may accuse the judges of merely doing Beijing’s bidding, denting perceptions of independence.

Rights lawyer Michael Vidler, meanwhile, spoke of a deepening concern across the legal community.

“It’s going to have a dramatic chilling effect,” Vidler said. “The damage to Hong Kong’s reputation as a free and safe place where the rule of law is upheld is incalculable.”

Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma declined to comment about the proposed amendments, as did the mainland's Justice Ministry.

The Security Bureau said in a response to Reuters that only after all “human rights and procedural safeguards” had been satisfied, and the requesting jurisdiction has “pledged to those safeguards,” would any extradition case be put to the courts. (Reuters)