Security Law Judges Won't Be Just Hand-picked: CE

Chief Executive Carrie Lam on Tuesday tried to allay concerns about the independence of Hong Kong judiciary under Beijing's new security law, saying she will not hand-pick judges for trials under the new legislation and will instead consult the Chief Justice before naming judges for such cases.

The full draft of the law has not been released, but details of the legislation reported by the state media has already sparked concerns, both in Hong Kong and overseas, that some of its provisions would undermine the independence of the judiciary in the SAR.

A former Chief Justice, Andrew Li, had in a newspaper article raised concerns about two particular aspects of the the proposed law – the CE choosing judges for trials under the new legislation, and the possible transfer of some trials to the mainland.

Speaking to reporters before the weekly Executive Council meeting, the CE rejected such fears, saying people raising such concerns are ignorant as she has all along been appointing judges to different courts or tribunals.

“As the Chief Executive, how would I know many judges? We don’t socialise in a private setting, so how would I know about their expertise? Therefore, I think I will definitely consult the Chief Justice. However, it doesn’t change the law, which states that CE will make the appointment,” said Lam.

Lam explained that after she picks a pool of judges after taking the advice from the top judge, the judiciary itself would appoint specific judges from this broader group, to try national security cases.

The CE will not be “hand picking a random person in the street”, she added.

Lam also described as "ignorant" those who have raised concerns about the Chief Executive's power to appoint judges, noting that under the Basic Law, the CE already appoints all local judges based on the advice of the Judicial Officers Recommendation Commission.

She also dismissed concerns that foreign judges would be barred from handling national security cases, saying it's unrealistic to select only Chinese judges as some have advocated.

"Under the Basic Law there are only two positions in the judiciary that have a nationality requirement; that is the chief justice in the court of final appeal and the chief judge of the high court," she said.

"That’s why I said that while many people have been advocating only Chinese citizen judges should adjudicate over national security cases, this is simply not quite realistic because we don’t know how many judges now sitting on the bench have foreign nationality."

"And once more I have quoted to you that judges as far as in HKSAR are concerned they are appointed on the basis of their judicial and professional qualities.

"So with those safeguards in place, the answer should be obvious; there are no particular restrictions on the judges to be designated by the chief executive onto the future sort of group to adjudicate these national security cases,” said Lam.