Hong Kong’s government rejects former judge’s criticism and insists its judiciary remains independent

Chief executive John Lee said Hong Kong authorities had never interfered with the independence of the judiciary and would not do so. Photograph: Peter Parks/AFP via Getty Images’s government has rejected claims that the rule of law in the city is under threat after three out of 10 foreign judges who sit on its highest court resigned within a week. Chief executive John Lee said the Hong Kong authorities had never interfered with the independence of the judiciary and would not do so.

“Hong Kong, once a vibrant and politically diverse community, is slowly becoming a totalitarian state. The rule of law is profoundly compromised in any area about which the government feels strongly,” Lord Sumption wrote in the Financial Times. Hong Kong retained the common law system after Britain returned the former colony to China in 1997 and the Basic Law, its quasi-constitution, guarantees the independence of the courts. But the standing committee of’s National People’s Congress in Beijing has the authority to interpret the Basic Law and any mainland Chinese laws that apply in Hong Kong.

“Intimidated or convinced by the darkening political mood, many judges have lost sight of their traditional role as defenders of the liberty of the subject, even when the law allows it. There are guarantees of freedom of speech and assembly in both the Basic Law and the National Security Law, but only lip-service is ever paid to them,” Lord Sumption wrote.

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