Hong Kong anti-government protester injured in eye loses court bid for access to police warrant
- Officers used the court document to get the medical records of the woman, who ended up in hospital after violent clashes in August
- High Court finds against her argument that, in failing to hand over the warrant, the force deprived her of the right to justice
A Hong Kong court has refused a judicial review mounted by a woman demanding police hand over a search warrant they used to get medical records on a serious eye injury she suffered during an anti-government protest.
Lawyers for the woman, named K after she was granted anonymity for fear of having her details shared online, had accused police of obtaining her medical report “behind her back”, depriving her of the right to privacy.
They argued that K should be entitled to access to the warrant, when she has called the lawfulness of the police seizure into question, and that a failure to show her that order would prevent her from mounting a direct challenge, thereby infringing her right to access to justice as protected by the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution.
But the High Court on Tuesday sided with police, finding that agreeing to her demand would have far-reaching implications. Such a general rule, it found, would mean anyone aware they are being investigated could ask to see a warrant, harming the effectiveness of investigations, which depend on confidentiality and covertness.
“A declaration of such free-standing right is ... in my view, not only inadvisable but also unnecessary ... because ... there are established legal mechanisms for the applicant to obtain access,” Mr Justice Godfrey Lam Wan-ho wrote. “It is of significance that the applicant has not pointed to any legal obstruction.”
The judge observed that other alternatives open to K included a judicial review directly challenging the magistrate’s decision to issue the search warrant, or a civil action for an injunction restraining the use of documents seized.