My Take | Due process is what counts in case of jailed American lawyer
- As long as Samuel Bickett receives fair treatment under Hong Kong law after being convicted of assaulting a police officer, his claims in a US newspaper are just noise
In the case of expatriate American lawyer Samuel Phillip Bickett who was jailed for assaulting a police officer in Hong Kong, the real question is whether or not he has been given due process.
He claims he has not and is now out on bail while appealing against the ruling. He has granted an interview to The Washington Post, which took the story serious enough to have it filed by Shibani Mahtani, its Southeast Asia bureau chief, under the headline: “American lawyer imprisoned in Hong Kong speaks out about his treatment.”
Bickett was quoted by the newspaper as saying: “What I realised reading these letters is that to people, [my case] doesn’t just represent the destruction of the rule of law, it represents a destruction of values. I feel this immense burden not just to get justice on appeal for me but … for all these Hongkongers who supported me.”
Strong words!
It is, perhaps, worth reviewing “his treatment”, asThe Washington Post puts it. In early July, he was jailed for four months and two weeks after being convicted of assaulting senior constable Yu Shu-sang, at an MTR station in Causeway Bay in December 2019, that is, during the violent anti-government unrest then gripping the city. Video clips of the assault, including the ones cited as court evidence, are easily accessible online. You should really have a look for yourself.
But because of the short, some would say lenient, sentence, he is now allowed bail to launch his appeal in the interest of natural justice, to avoid ending up serving his full – four months and two weeks – sentence while still waiting for the appeal hearing. This appears to be proper due process.