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China judge blasts Trump as ‘enemy of the rule of law’

Supreme Court jurist’s comments made after US president attacked an American judge for blocking his administration’s travel ban on seven mainly Muslim nations

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President Donald Trump pictured earlier this month speaking during his first visit to the headquarters of the US Central Command at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida. Photo: AP

A senior judge in China has branded Donald Trump “an enemy of the rule of law” and protested how judicial independence in the US was being trampled on.

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These were some of the harsh words from Supreme People’s Court judge He Fan to the newly inaugurated US president, and smacked of turning the tables.

In a WeChat post on Sunday, He criticised Trump’s serial Twitter-attacks on Seattle Federal Judge James Robart, who had suspended the president’s controversial executive order, a 90-day entry ban on refugees, visitors and permanent residents from seven majority Muslim countries.

The order had affected tens of thousands nationals of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen with valid documents to enter the US.

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The administration said the president had the authority to decide who could enter the nation. The Justice Department filed to the Ninth US Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, which was due to hear the case on Tuesday.

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