Mainland Chinese university bars two Hong Kong human rights lawyers from teaching regular course there
In response Bar Association pulls regular course at Peking University, which has been running since 2011
A mainland Chinese university blocked two Hong Kong human rights lawyers from teaching a course delivered by the city’s Bar Association earlier this year, and told the group’s chairman not to attend a course ceremony, it has emerged.
The association – the city’s top legal professional body – responded by pulling the course at Peking University, Beijing, indefinitely.
Philip Dykes, who was elected association chairman this January, revealed the news in a circular to his members on Monday, as the Post learned separately that the group’s regular Beijing meet-up with officials and judges would probably not happen this year.
A source said the two barristers Peking University objected to were human rights lawyer Hectar Pun and Cheung Yiu-leung, vice-chairman of the China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group. They were not allowed to teach the common law course and asked to be replaced, despite having done so for several years. Both have not replied to Post requests for comment.
But a few other members from the group who had also taught on the month-long programme, which ran annually at the university from 2011, were not blacklisted. The course still went ahead this year.