Foreign judge to join top court panel for gov’t appeal of ex-lawmaker acquitted over disclosing ICAC probe into officer
Hong Kong Free Press
A foreign judge will sit on the panel for jailed ex-lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting’s hearing at the top court next month, in which the government is seeking to overturn his acquittal over disclosing the identity of an officer investigated for his role in the Yuen Long mob attack in 2019.
Australian judge James Allsop is among the five judges who will preside over Lam’s hearing at the Court of Final Appeal, according to the top court’s website on Monday.
Allsop’s participation in the case comes as Hong Kong’s tradition of engaging overseas judges from other common law jurisdictions continues to stir debate. Last year, five judges left, including one who said Hong Kong was “slowly becoming an authoritarian state” under the Beijing-imposed national security law.
The UK said in 2020 that it was considering withdrawing British judges from Hong Kong’s top court.
Formerly chief justice of the Federal Court of Australia, Allsop was appointed to Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal last May. He is the newest overseas non-permanent judge to join the top court’s panel.
Lam, an ex-lawmaker with the Democratic Party, is currently serving six years and nine months for conspiring to commit subversion. He was among 45 pro-democracy figures sentenced in the city’s largest national security case. Lam, who pleaded not guilty to the charge, has sought to appeal his conviction.
Hong Kong’s top court now has six overseas judges remaining, compared to 15 before the Beijing-imposed national security law was passed.
Acquitted last February
Lam was convicted in January 2022 of three counts of disclosing the identity of people under investigation after he revealed the identity of a police officer being investigated by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). He was sentenced to four months in jail, before being acquitted last February following an appeal.
The police officer was under an ICAC prove over his role in the Yuen Long mob attacks on July 21, 2019, as the city was engulfed in protests and unrest sparked by a controversial extradition bill.
That night, more than 100 rod-wielding men stormed Yuen Long MTR station and attacked protesters and other passengers, leaving 45 people injured including Lam, who said he was there to protect residents from the attack. Police have been criticised for their alleged inaction over the incident.
Separately, Lam was convicted in December along with six others of rioting during the incident. They will be sentenced next month.
In the ICAC case, the prosecution had accused Lam of disclosing during press conferences that Yau Nai-keung, the then-assistant commander in Yuen Long, was the subject of an ICAC probe for alleged misconduct in public office.
In acquitting him, the High Court ruled that the Prevention of Bribery Ordinance, under which Lam was charged, did not cover investigations into misconduct in public office. He said the protection against the disclosure of investigation should be confined to probes into bribery and corruption, which were listed in the ordinance.
After his acquittal, the government sought to overturn the conviction and was granted approval to take the case to the Court of Final Appeal.
The hearing will take place at the top court on February 12. Allsop will preside over the case alongside Chief Justice Andrew Cheung as well as judges Roberto Ribero, Joseph Fok and Johnson Lam.
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