National security law: Hong Kong court rejects challenge to new bail rules brought by man who allegedly drove motorcycle into police
- High Court judges dealing with the unprecedented challenge rule suspect’s detention ‘cannot be said to be without lawful authority’
- The team for Tong Ying-kit had argued that Article 42 of the new legislation was inconsistent with the Basic Law and amounted to a ‘no bail’ provision
But Tong Ying-kit, 23, the first defendant charged under the new law, has not given up on seeking release from custody, and the Court of First Instance will hear his ordinary bail application on Tuesday, when he will be represented by a different legal team led by Lawrence Lok SC.
Justices Anderson Chow Ka-ming and Alex Lee Wan-tang on Friday sided with the government in concluding that Tong’s application for a writ of habeas corpus – for the authorities to justify the legality of his detention – should not be permitted as “there can be no doubt that the magistrate had the lawful authority” to remand him.
“We cannot see any good reason why the applicant does not apply for a review of refusal of bail in the normal way,” the judges wrote in a 43-page judgment. “There can be no question of his detention being without lawful authority.”
