Top Judges Get Into A Knot Over HK Men's Hairstyles

The chief justice joined lawyers at the city's top court on Wednesday in a debate on how men in Hong Kong like to wear their hair, as former lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung again challenged the practice of haircuts for male prison inmates.

Leung, who's often referred to by his nickname 'Longhair', argues that the policy amounts to sexual discrimination. He first took the matter to court after his locks were chopped off in 2014 when he served a jail sentence in relation to a protest.

At a hearing on Wednesday, Stewart Wong, the lawyer for the Commissioner for Correctional Services, argued there was no discrimination at all and that there's a need to cut the hair of male inmates short to achieve discipline, and ensure uniformity and conformity.

Wong added that the commissioner decides on the hairstyle of inmates in accordance with the conventional standards of appearance in Hong Kong.

On hearing this, Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma asked: “What have the conventional standards [of hairstyle] got to do with custodial discipline?”

“What is the [commissioner’s] explanation for it? He simply blurts it out!”

Justice Roberto Ribeiro also challenged Wong, saying it appears that male inmates are subject to such standards, but not female inmates.

Wong said the point is for no inmate to stand out in a prison setting and that there should be a de-emphasis on individuality.

Leung's lawyer Hectar Pun, meanwhile, argued that there was simply no evidence before the court that it is the local conventional standard for men to have short hair, and women to have either short or long hair.

Even if there was any such evidence, Pun argued, it would amount to stereotyping. He said it shouldn’t up to the commissioner to attribute a certain hairstyle to a particular sex.

In 2017, Leung won a judicial review over the matter, but a year later the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the Correctional Services Department.

The Court of Final Appeal on Wednesday reserved judgement until a later date.