Hong Kong Watch Patrons and Advisor urge UK Foreign Secretary to condemn conviction of Tiananmen vigil leaders

Today, a coalition of four Hong Kong Watch Patrons and Advisor in the UK wrote to Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband to express their deep concerns regarding the guilty verdict in the case of the now-defunct Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. Following the conviction last Friday, the Alliance’s former leaders, Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan, now face a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment.

Signatories to the letter include our Patrons Lord Alton of Liverpool, Chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights, Sir Malcolm Rifkind KC, former Foreign Secretary, Sir Geoffrey Nice KC, and our Advisor Paul Harris SC, former chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association.

“This verdict signifies that the right to peaceful expression, guaranteed under the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, is now criminalised under Hong Kong’s National Security Law. Criticism of the state has also been all but explicitly outlawed,” the letter read.

The letter also highlighted the arbitrary detention of Chow and Lee, who have both been held in detention for over 1,800 days since their arrests in September 2021.

Highlighting the UK’s role as a guarantor of the Sino-British Joint Declaration, a UN-registered international treaty, the signatories urged the Foreign Secretary to:

  1. Publicly condemn the conviction as an egregious breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration;

  2. Call for the immediate and unconditional release of the Alliance’s former leaders; and

  3. Raise the unacceptability and injustice of this case with the Chinese government.

You can read the full letter here.

香港監察贊助人及顧問聯署促請英國外相譴責支聯會鄒幸彤、李卓人罪成裁決

今天，四位香港監察贊助人及顧問去信英國外交大臣，就支聯會案鄒幸彤、李卓人罪成裁決表達深切憂慮。支聯會前正副主席李卓人和鄒幸彤上週五被裁定「煽動顛覆國家政權」罪成，最高可被判十年監禁。

聯署人包括香港監察贊助人：英國國會人權聯合委員會主席奧爾頓勳爵（Lord Alton of Liverpool）、前外交大臣聶偉敬爵士（Sir Malcolm Rifkind）、尼斯爵士（Sir Geoffrey Nice），以及香港監察顧問：前香港大律師公會主席夏博義（Paul Harris）。

信中指出：「這項裁決表明，受1984年《中英聯合聲明》保障的和平表達權利，如今在香港《國家安全法》下已被定性為犯罪。對政權的批評亦幾乎被明文禁止。」

信中亦強調鄒幸彤和李卓人自2021年9月被捕以來已被還押超過1,800日，屬任意拘留。

聯署人強調《中英聯合聲明》是在聯合國登記的國際條約，而英國是擔保國，並促請外交大臣：

  1. 公開譴責支聯會案罪成裁決嚴重違反《中英聯合聲明》；

  2. 呼籲立即無條件釋放相關支聯會成員；及

  3. 向中國政府提出案件裁決不能接受且不公正。

信件全文可在此處閱覽。

Photo (Chow Hang-tung): Iris Tong, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Photo (Lee Cheuk-yan): VOA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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