Hong Kong's legislature passed a legal amendment on Wednesday to prevent foreign lawyers working on national security cases, a restriction critics say will undermine fair trials and the right of defendants to choose their lawyers.
The amendment depicts a ruling from China's top lawmaking body last December that Hong Kong courts must get the approval of the city's leader before admitting a foreign lawyer without Hong Kong qualifications for national security cases.
The use of foreign lawyers by both prosecutors and defence has long been part of the rule of law traditions in the former British colony and in recent years some have become involved in defending critics of the Beijing-backed city government.
The December ruling by China's National People's Congress Standing Committee followed an appeal to it by city leader John Lee after the city's Department of Justice had tried unsuccessfully to block British lawyer Timothy Owen from defending media tycoon and China critic Jimmy Lai.
Lai, founder of now closed pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, faces a total of four charges under the security law and a colonial-era sedition law.
Under Wednesday's amendment, a foreign lawyer can not get involved in national security cases unless the city's leader has sufficient grounds for believing that the lawyer's involvement is not contrary to the interests of national security. It will be decided case-by-case.
Defending the amendment, Secretary for Justice Paul Lam told the city's Legislative Council that Hong Kong had more than 100 senior counsels and 1,500 barristers, so defendants could choose suitable legal representatives among them. "The bill complies with the Hong Kong National Security Law on respecting and protecting the human rights and freedoms, nor does it deprive any people’s legal rights," Lam said.
British-based legal scholar Eric Lai said the amendment allowed for a broad government interpretation of what constituted a national security case, and therefore who might be allowed to get involved in it.
It would also discourage some foreign lawyers from getting Hong Kong restricts foreign lawyers from national security cases involved, he said. "The vague definition of 'cases concerning national security' in the bill implies that the government can arbitrarily use the new powers to allow or prohibit foreign lawyers from taking up local cases, whatever civil or criminal, on the over-broad ground of 'national security'," Lai said.
Beijing imposed the national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 after months of anti-government protests. It punishes acts of subversion, terrorism, collusion with foreign forces and secession with up to life imprisonment. Jimmy Lai's legal team filed a legal challenge last month after Hong Kong's national security committee advised the Immigration Department to refuse Owen a new visa. A decision will be handed down by a High Court judge.
香港禁止外國律師代理國家安全案件
香港立法機關週三通過了一項法律修正案，以防止外國律師在國家安全案件中工作，批評人士稱，這一限制將破壞公平審判和被告選擇律師的權利。
該修正案描述了中國最高立法機構去年 12 月的一項裁決，即香港法院在接納不具備香港執業資格的外國律師處理國家安全案件之前，必須獲得香港領導人的批准。
長期以來，檢察官和辯護律師都聘用外國律師一直是這個前英國殖民地法治傳統的一部分，近年來，一些律師參與了為北京支持的市政府的批評者辯護。
中國全國人民代表大會常務委員會 12 月的裁決是在市司法部試圖阻止英國律師 Timothy Owen 為媒體大亨和中國評論家黎智英辯護未果後，市領導人李家超向其提出上訴後作出的。
黎智英是現已關閉的親民主報紙《蘋果日報》的創始人，他根據國安法和殖民時代煽動叛亂法共面臨四項指控。
根據周三的修正案，外國律師不得介入國家安全案件，除非該市領導人有充分理由相信該律師的介入不違背國家安全利益。將根據具體情況決定。
為修正案辯護，律政司司長林保羅告訴香港立法會，香港有超過 100 名高級大律師和 1,500 名大律師，因此被告可以從中選擇合適的法律代表。林鄭月娥說：“該法案符合香港國安法關於尊重和保障人權和自由的規定，也沒有剝奪任何人的合法權利。”
英國法律學者 Eric Lai 表示，該修正案允許政府對什麼構成國家安全案件進行廣泛的解釋，因此可以允許哪些人參與其中。
他說，這也會阻止一些外國律師讓香港限制外國律師參與涉及國家安全的案件。 “法案中對‘涉及國家安全的案件’的模糊定義意味著政府可以任意使用新權力允許或禁止外國律師處理本地案件，無論是民事案件還是刑事案件，”安全'，”賴說。
經過數月的反政府抗議活動後，北京於 2020 年對香港實施了國家安全法。它懲罰顛覆、恐怖主義、與外國勢力勾結和分裂國家的行為，最高可判處無期徒刑。上個月，在香港國家安全委員會建議入境事務處拒絕為歐文簽發新簽證後，黎智英的法律團隊提出了法律質疑。高等法院法官將作出決定。
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