Beijing slams UK judge who quit Hong Kong’s top court for ‘slandering’ rule of law

Beijing has stepped up its scathing criticism of a British judge who recently resigned from Hong Kong’s top court, accusing him of “slandering” the city’s rule of law and “blatantly violating” the principle of avoiding commenting on ongoing proceedings.

Beijing’s liaison office and national security arm in the city took aim at Jonathan Sumption, who stepped down from the Court of Final Appeal, in a pair of strongly worded statements issued on Thursday night.

Legal and political observers said the authorities’ strong reaction was justified given Sumption’s “unusual” and “baseless” remarks, as Beijing might consider them as part of the agenda of outside forces to discredit the legal system.

Sumption recently claimed in an opinion piece and interviews that Hong Kong was “slowly becoming a totalitarian state” and that the Beijing-decreed national security law had been suppressing dissent.

He also said that having overseas judges to help sustain the rule of law in Hong Kong was “no longer realistic”.