Hong Kong appeal court blocks Jimmy Lai from challenging foreign counsel ban
- Court of Appeal finds judiciary does not have authority to review decision by national security committee to bar King’s Counsel Timothy Owen from defending Lai
- Ruling points to Article 14 of national security law stipulating committee must be free from interference and its decisions not amenable to judicial review
The committee decided in a closed-door meeting in January last year that the involvement of London-based King’s Counsel Timothy Owen in Lai’s case was likely to undermine national security, and that it would advise the Immigration Department to dismiss any of the Briton’s applications for a work visa.
Justices Susan Kwan Shuk-hing, Carlye Chu Fun-ling and Thomas Au Hing-cheung stressed the combined effect of the law and the interpretation “leaves no room for any doubt or ambiguity”
“The meaning of the language is not reasonably capable of sustaining any competing alternative interpretation. The court is bound to give effect to the clear meaning of the language of the text,” the judgment read.
But unlike many of the other rulings by the appeal court in other cases, the document did not identify which of the three judges penned it.
The bench rejected a legal construction by Lai’s lawyers to allow for “some attenuated form” of judicial supervision, adding there was no justification to construe the law as restricting the national security committee’s duties and functions to broad policymaking as contended.
A separate appeal by Lai against an indemnity costs order in the court below was maintained in Monday’s judgment.
Lai, 76, is currently standing trial without a jury at West Kowloon Court on two conspiracy charges of collusion with foreign forces and a third of conspiracy to print and distribute seditious publications.
The Apple Daily founder was initially allowed to engage the services of Owen, who is not admitted to the Hong Kong Bar and requires the court’s permission to take up cases in the city.
The tycoon mounted two legal challenges in a bid to keep Owen on his defence team.