UK NGO Prisoners Abroad stands by trustee judge David Neuberger amid pressure over Jimmy Lai appeal ruling
Hong Kong Free Press
A UK charity that advocates for British nationals imprisoned overseas has rejected pressure to oust British judge David Neuberger as a trustee over his role in rejecting an appeal by media tycoon Jimmy Lai.
Lai, who founded the Apple Daily newspaper and is a UK national, has been detained since December 2021 for allegedly violating Beijing’s national security law. If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life behind bars. He is currently serving five years and nine months in a maximum security prison for fraud, where news agency AP reported last August he was placed in solitary confinement.
Prisoners Abroad Chief Executive Christopher Stacey said in a Tuesday statement that the NGO’s trustees were committed to protecting the health, welfare and rights of Britons imprisoned abroad.
“As a charity, we do not judge on whether someone is guilty or innocent. We are proud of the work that we do to support thousands of people every year who need our life-saving support to ensure that they survive with dignity, face the future with hope and can rebuild their lives and desist from crime after release and return to the UK,” he said.
When asked if Prisoners Abroad stood by its statement after HKFP revealed that Neuberger was reportedly reconsidering his role advising a press freedom NGO, a spokesperson referred back to the public statement on Wednesday. They did not answer questions about their stance on Lai’s case or Neuberger’s presence on the apex court.
The statement from Prisoners Abroad quoted Neuberger as saying his role as trustee did not present a conflict: “My role as a judge in Hong Kong, like the role of a judge anywhere, is to decide cases that come before me according to the law. Although judicial decisions can of course result in people going to or remaining in prison, I do not believe that there is a conflict between my role as a judge and my role as a trustee of Prisoners Abroad.”
He added: “I am dedicated to Prisoners Abroad, and I would encourage people who have not come across its vital humanitarian work to discover more about it.”
See also: Exclusive: UK judge Neuberger mulls role on int’l media freedom panel, legal body says
When the NGO posted the statement on Twitter, UK Conservative MP Alicia Kearns responded: “I’ll tell you now, there is a conflict of interest.”
Meanwhile, the UK’s Independent newspaper on Wednesday launched a front-page campaign for the overseas non-permanent judge to withdraw from the city’s Court of Final Appeal.
Jimmy Lai and democrats’ appeal
On Monday, democracy figures Martin Lee, Margaret Ng, Jimmy Lai, Albert Ho, Lee Cheuk-yan, “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung and Cyd Ho lost an appeal to overturn their convictions for knowingly taking part in an unauthorised assembly on August 18, 2019. Neuberger was on the panel of judges who unanimously rejected the democrats’ argument that their conviction was disproportionate to the protection of their basic human rights.
On Tuesday, the Hong Kong government expressed its support for the top court’s decision. Hong Kong citizens have the right to “peaceful assembly and procession conducted in accordance with the law,” a statement read. “That said, these rights must be exercised in conformity with the relevant legislation to ensure the safeguarding of national security, public order, public safety and the protection of the rights and freedom of others.”
Aside from the protest case, Jimmy Lai, founder of Hong Kong’s defunct Apple Daily newspaper and a high-profile supporter of the city’s democracy movement, has been accused of violating the Beijing-imposed national security law. If convicted, he faces life in prison. The 76-year-old is on trial for two counts of taking part in a “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces” under the security legislation, and also for conspiring to publish “seditious” materials.
Overseas judges
In June, Neuberger told Reuters that he would remain as a top court judge “to support the rule of law in Hong Kong, as best I can.” That month, British judges Jonathan Sumption and Lawrence Collins resigned from the apex court, with the latter citing the “political situation” and Sumption in a newspaper article making strong criticism of Hong Kong’s judicial system. Judges Robert Reed and Patrick Hodge resigned in March 2022.
The presence of international judges has historically given credibility to Hong Kong’s common law legal tradition. Overseas non-permanent judges typically serve three-year terms. The current stint of Nicholas Phillips, a British judge who has been on the Court of Final Appeal since 2012, is set to expire at the end of next month.
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