Hong Kong Bar Association calls government’s extradition proposal a ‘step backward’, while extradition lawyer says it does not offer sufficient protections
- The barristers’ body says the list of exemptions offered to placate the business sector will leave existing extradition agreements weaker than they currently are
- Senior Counsel Michael Blanchflower decries the introduction of a subclause in the law which effectively removes the requirement for judicial authentication
Hong Kong’s professional body for barristers has ramped up criticism of the government’s controversial plan to allow the transfer of fugitives to mainland China, Taiwan and Macau, dismissing a list of exemptions offered by officials to ease the business community’s concerns as “a step backward”.
In addition to the Hong Kong Bar Association’s strongly worded response on Tuesday, extradition law expert Michael Blanchflower warned that the proposal lacked sufficient protection for people facing a different legal system outside the city, even as Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor insisted on presenting the relevant bill to the legislature on Wednesday as scheduled, regardless of any legal challenge.
The bill would allow the transfer of fugitives on a case-by-case basis to jurisdictions the city has no agreement with.
Lam’s administration watered down the bill last week amid pressure from the business community; it wiped nine economic crimes relating to tax, securities and futures and the unlawful use of a computer from the list of extraditable offences.
But the Bar Association remained unconvinced, saying the concessions had no principled basis and had failed to get to the root of the problem – the unease stemmed from fundamental differences between the judicial and criminal justice systems of the city and the mainland.