• 01/18/2025

No foreign judge to hear landmark appeal over activist Tam Tak-chi’s sedition conviction at top court

Hong Kong Free Press

no foreign judge for CFA Tam Tak-chi sedition appeal

No overseas judge will preside over a landmark case at Hong Kong’s apex court involving pro-democracy activist Tam Tak-chi, who sought to challenge his conviction and sentence under a since-repealed colonial-era sedition law.

cfa Court of Final Appeal
Court of Final Appeal. File photo: GovHK.

Chief Justice Andrew Cheung and four other local judges will gather at the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) on Friday to hear Tam’s case. The activist, also known as “Fast Beat,” was fined and jailed by the District Court in April 2022 for 40 months for 11 charges including uttering seditious words. 

According to the CFA’s diary, Friday’s appeal will be heard by Cheung, permanent Judges Roberto Ribeiro, Joseph Fok and Johnson Lam, and non-permanent judge Patrick Chan, who is from Hong Kong.

None of the six overseas non-permanent judges was assigned to the case.

See also: Explainer: Why do foreign judges sit on Hong Kong’s top court

Since its establishment in 1997, Hong Kong’s top court has sporadically extended invitations to judges from other common law jurisdictions to join its appeal panel. Although there are no restrictions on the type of cases a foreign judge may preside over, oversea judges were absent from two appeals concerning the Beijing-imposed national security law.

Tam Tak-chi people power july 1
Tam Tak-chi. Photo: Tom Grundy/HKFP.

In recent years, the engagement of overseas judges has become a subject of debate, and a number resigned following the implementation of the national security law. The UK also considered withdrawing British judges from Hong Kong’s top court.

After quitting the CFA last June, Jonathan Sumption wrote in an op-ed published by the Financial Times that there had been a “growing malaise” among Hong Kong’s Judiciary, which operated in an “almost impossible political environment created by China.” 

During Tam’s hearing on Friday, the apex court is set to scrutinise two questions of law: Are the sedition offences indictable offences that must be tried in the High Court before a judge and jury? Is the prosecution required to prove the defendant’s intention to incite third parties to violence or public disorder for the sedition offences charged in Tam’s case?

The high-profile appeal will mark the first time the sedition law has been challenged in the top court. Tam was the first person to stand trial for sedition since the city’s return from British to Chinese rule in 1997. His prosecution came after authorities revived the colonial-era legislation following the enactment of a national security law in June 2020 that did not cover sedition.

National flags of China and HKSAR flags in Hong Kong. File photo: GovHK.
China and Hong Kong flags in Hong Kong. File photo: GovHK.

The sedition offences under the Crimes Ordinance were repealed last March, when Hong Kong enacted the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance. Commonly known as Article 23, the new security law raised the maximum penalty for sedition from two years in prison to seven years behind bars, or 10 if the offence was committed with “external forces.”

Last week, a local court adjourned the case of a man who stands accused of publishing “seditious” posts online to await the verdict of Tam’s appeal.

Tam is currently serving a prison term of four years and five months for a separate conviction under the Beijing-imposed national security law. The former radio host was among 45 democrats found guilty and jailed over a conspiracy to commit subversion. He had lodged an appeal against his sentence.

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https://hongkongfp.com/2025/01/08/no-foreign-judge-to-hear-landmark-appeal-over-activist-tam-tak-chis-sedition-conviction-at-top-court/