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High Court judge gets warning from Hong Kong’s chief justice after name appears on petition against extradition bill
- Veteran judge’s name appears on petition launched by fellow alumni
- Judiciary confirms a judge was ‘advised to refrain from doing so in the future’
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A High Court judge and former classmate of a jailed Occupy leader has been given a warning by the city’s chief justice after his name was found on a petition against the government’s fugitive bill.
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The matter came to light when Judge Patrick Li Hon-leung’s signature appeared on a petition launched by fellow University of Hong Kong alumni on May 26, which called for the government to withdraw the proposed amendment.
The Hong Kong judiciary confirmed on Saturday that a judge’s name was among the nearly 3,000 names on the alumni group’s petition denouncing the proposal, which would allow the case-by-case transfer of fugitives to jurisdictions with which Hong Kong does not have an extradition agreement, notably mainland China.
The judiciary did not reveal the name of the judge.
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A spokeswoman for the judiciary said Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma Tao-li had previously reminded judges they should refrain from expressing their personal opinions on political issues, and particularly on legal issues that might come before the courts.
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