Hong Kong’s No 2 official defends court rulings, hits out at media ‘bias’ over jailing of democracy activists

Hong Kong’s No 2 official on Saturday launched a strong defence of the city’s courts in jailing young pro-democracy activists, hitting out at “biased” reports by foreign media, and insisting the fallout would not harm the government’s efforts to reach out to alienated youth.

Commenting on the Court of Appeal’s decision this week to jail Joshua Wong Chi-fung, Nathan Law Kwun-chung and Alex Chow Yong-kang for six to eight months over an illegal protest, Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung Kin-chung said judicial independence remained the cornerstone of the city’s success.

“We’ve got a fiercely independent judiciary in Hong Kong, and the due process has been observed in reaching the decision of the Court of Appeal, so it’s something beyond dispute,” he said.

“The Bar Association and the Hong Kong Law Society last night issued a joint statement categorically denying any link with outside factors, any factors other than the law, involved in the decision of the court.

“There is bias in the views of foreign media ... and the Bar Association and the Law Society have clarified that the court’s decision was not affected by political considerations.”

Read the Hong Kong Court of Appeal’s ruling on Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow, jailed for 2014 protest

Cheung was referring to a rare joint statement by the city’s two biggest groups of legal professionals hitting out at both local and mainland media for suggesting there were political motives behind the prison terms for the trio as well as 13 other democracy activists in a separate case earlier this week.