Editorial | Save those in prison from cruellest of cuts

Hong Kong authorities have not ruled out cropping the hair of both men and women in order to comply with a law against discrimination following a case brought by former lawmaker ‘Long Hair’ Leung Kwok-hung

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“Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung was vindicated when a panel of judges in the Court of Final Appeal ruled that prison staff wrongly cut the maverick legislator’s hair during a 2014 jail stay. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 11:31pm, 3 Dec 2020Updated: 12:19am, 4 Dec 2020

If anyone should understand their obligations under Hong Kong’s laws against sexual discrimination it should be the administration and its agencies and officials who are all responsible for upholding them.

Yet for more than six years now these laws have been at the centre of a legal battle with former lawmaker “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung over whether government prisons should be an exception to the rule, allowing them to force short haircuts on male inmates, but not females.

The former maverick legislator known for his long locks has fought a number of legal battles over the years on more weighty issues than sexist haircuts. But he will doubtless be remembered for his victory over such discrimination in the Court of Final Appeal, with a panel of judges ruling that prison staff wrongly cut his hair while in jail after protesting in 2014.

It is a reminder that the fight for equality and against outdated laws and practices is far from over.

Leung appears for his final appeal against the public prison operator that cut his hair while he was jailed. Photo: Dickson Lee

One aspect that sets the case apart is the reaction of the authorities, who reportedly do not rule out cutting the hair of 1,400 female inmates as well as about 5,500 males in order to comply with the law against discrimination. Hopefully that is no more than a flirtation with the absurd ahead of an attack of common sense.

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.css-1m2rp1p{color:#34b8b5;}Editorial | Save those in prison from cruellest of cuts

Editorial | Save those in prison from cruellest of cuts