Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register LONDON / HONG KONG, March 30 (Reuters) – Two senior British judges, including the president of the United Kingdom Supreme Court, resigned from the Hong Kong Supreme Court on Wednesday amid a sweeping national security law imposed by the United Kingdom. British colony, suppressing dissidents. . Robert Reed, who heads Britain’s highest court, has said he and his colleague Patrick Hodge will step down immediately as non-permanent judges on the Hong Kong Final Court of Appeal (CFA). “I have come to an agreement with the government that Supreme Court justices can not continue to sit in Hong Kong without appearing to support a government that has strayed from the values of civil liberties and freedom of expression,” he said. Reed in a statement. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register Britain, which extradited Hong Kong back to China in 1997, said a security law punishing offenses such as overthrowing and up to life in prison had been used to restrict dissent and freedoms. London also says the law violates the 1984 Joint Sino-British Declaration, which paved the way for surrender. Many of the city’s pro-democracy activists have been arrested, detained or forced into exile, civil society groups have been shut down and liberal media outlets have been shut down due to security crackdowns since the law came into force in June 2020. Beijing says the law has brought stability to Hong Kong, which has been rocked by months of sometimes violent anti-government street protests in 2019, and includes guarantees of human rights. Hong Kong Chief Justice Andrew Cheung said in a statement that he regretted Reed and Hodge’s resignations, saying the judiciary was committed to the rule of law and that foreign judges had made valuable contributions to the city courts. . “The constitutional basis on which our judicial independence is based will not be shaken,” Justice Minister Teresa Cheng said in a statement issued after her resignation. PRESSURE ON OTHER FOREIGN JUDGES British Foreign Secretary Liz Tras said Hong Kong had witnessed “a systematic erosion of freedom and democracy”. “The situation has reached a point where it is no longer possible for British judges to appear in the Supreme Court of Hong Kong and (this) would risk legitimizing repression,” he added. Tras criticized the Hong Kong authorities this month for accusing a British human rights group of colluding with foreign powers in a “possible” breach of security law. read more In a report to Hong Kong last December, she said that while judicial independence was becoming increasingly balanced, she believed that British judges could “play a positive role in upholding that judicial independence”. The presence of foreign judges in Hong Kong is enshrined in the Basic Law, the mini-constitution that guarantees the freedoms and extended autonomy of the Chinese-dominated global financial hub, including the continuation of the Hong Kong-era traditions of common law in Hong Kong. Reed had previously stated that he would not serve in the HKCFA if the city’s judiciary were undermined. Local lawyers said the resignations would likely put pressure on the 10 other foreign judges on the Final Court of Appeal to resign. Six of them are British. These judges, also from Canada and Australia, are mostly retired senior lawyers in their home countries, unlike Reed and Hodge, who were still serving. Two other foreign judges, Britain’s Brenda Hale and Australian James Spigelman, have also resigned from the city’s highest court since 2020. “It’s a big blow to the local fraternity and the great tradition of the rule of law in Hong Kong,” a veteran lawyer told Reuters. “Despite all the pressure we have in front of us, we really needed them and I’m afraid what will follow.” In a statement Wednesday, Hong Kong Law Firm President Chuck Ming urged Reed and Hodge to reconsider their moves, expressing “deep regret” and saying the decision was “disappointingly lacking” in public and legal support. community to continue the role of judges abroad. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com Register References by Michael Holden and William James in London and Greg Torode and James Pomfret in Hong Kong. Editors: Kate Holton, Barbara Lewis, John Stonestreet and Nick Macfie Our role models: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
