Hong Kong protests: High Court test for warrants that let police search phones
- Photographer whose unlawful assembly charges were dropped in November applies for judicial review
- Writ states the documents effectively allowed ‘any police officer to search and seize the entire digital contents of [his] mobile phone’
A photographer who briefly faced charges over an anti-government protest has sought to challenge the legality of two court-issued warrants which allowed Hong Kong police to access his mobile phone and other digital devices.
Lee Wing-ho, 22, applied for a judicial review seeking that the High Court declare magistrates acted unlawfully in granting the warrants, and breached his constitutional right to freedom and privacy of communication.
In a writ filed on Monday, Lee claimed the warrants were too general, effectively authorising “any police officer to search and seize the entire digital contents of [his] mobile phone … without any limitation or conditions whatsoever imposed”.
“The magistrates have … failed to carry out the judicial gatekeeping function,” his writ read, adding that the subsequent police action to access the contents of his devices was an “oppressive, arbitrary or unconstitutional action”.
Lee was arrested for unlawful assembly on Nathan Road during an anti-government protest in Mong Kok on August 3 last year. Upon his arrest, officers seized property including his mobile phone and some digital storage cards. He did not find out warrants had been issued for police to access his devices until October 23, when his case was about to go to court.
