Hong Kong’s security chief has condemned a legal scholar for “undermining the rule of law” after the latter wrote an opinion piece criticising a court ruling that sent an ex-lawmaker to jail for “rioting” in the Yuen Long attack in 2019.
Legal scholar Johannes Chan. Photo: Catherine Lai/HKFP.
In his letter to Ming Pao on Wednesday, Secretary for Security Chris Tang also accused Johannes Chan, the former dean of the University of Hong Kong’s law faculty, of “misleading” the public and “shaking the public’s confidence in the court system.”
Tang’s letter was in response to a Ming Pao opinion piece penned by Chan, saying that the court had downplayed the actions of the armed, white-clad attackers in Yuen Long.
On July 21, 2019, over 100 rod-wielding men dressed in white stormed the Yuen Long MTR station and attacked commuters and protesters coming home from a pro-democracy demonstration. Dozens – including Lam Cheuk-ting, then Democratic Party lawmaker – were beaten and injured during the assault.
District Judge Stanley Chan sentenced Lam to 37 months in jail last month, saying that the actions of the former lawmaker and his six co-defendants had constituted a riot, which “should not be overshadowed” by attacks carried out by the white-clad men.
In his Wednesday opinion piece, the legal scholar said many people understood the Yuen Long attacks as an indiscriminate mob attack carried out by the men in white. “Yet, the court had a different interpretation of the July 21 incident,” he said.
The mob attack on July 21, 2019, in Yuen Long MTR station. Photo: Screenshot.
“Did the non-white-clad people behind the station gates gather up because they were stranded inside, or did they intentionally assemble together? Was it a violent riot with a common purpose, or was it just a reaction out of fear for one’s personal safety?” Chan wrote.
“The court downplayed the organised, armed illegal acts of the white-clad men, and only focused on the actions of those in the paid area of the station.”
‘Biased article’
However, the security minister said that was “absolutely untrue.”
Tang wrote: “The author, who is a law professor, has once again published a biased article, deliberately ignoring the fact that some white-clad people have already been brought to justice, misleading readers with a warped perspective that the court has made an unfair judgment regarding either party, shaking the public’s confidence in the court system, and undermining the rule of law in Hong Kong, which must be condemned.”
Secretary for Security Chris Tang announces the beginning of the public consultation period for Hong Kong’s homegrown security law, Article 23, on January 30, 2024. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
Citing the court’s judgment, Tang said that people in the station threw water bottles and used umbrellas to attack the white-clad men, while some wore masks or helmets.
He said that the seven defendants had assembled inside the paid area “in the first place,” which constituted an unlawful assembly that “subsequently degenerated into a riot.”
Disclaimer ‘does not absolve editor’
Tang also extended his criticism to Ming Pao, saying that the paper’s disclaimer which stated that Chan’s article was not intended to incite hatred toward the government “does not absolve the editor of his responsibility to ensure that the publication is fair, objective, and unbiased.”
“It is hoped that Ming Pao will not continue to be exploited by people with ulterior motives to use this platform to spread confusing remarks, to poison the community, and to create conflicts,” Tang said.
Ming Pao. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
In August last year – a month after another op-ed by Chan was slammed by the government for being “unfounded and misleading” – Ming Pao urged its columnists to be “prudent” and “law-abiding” when writing for the newspaper,
Last October, Tang also accused former lawmaker Margaret Ng of “glorifying” jailed Stand News editor Chung Pui-kuen in an opinion piece published by Ming Pao.
