Hong Kong inmate denied early release under security law ‘treated unfairly’, court told

Adam Ma’s lawyers argue in court that Correctional Services Department failed to provide timely reasons in support of decision

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Adam Ma is serving a five-year jail term. Photo: Brian Wong

Published: 7:10pm, 22 Oct 2024Updated: 9:03pm, 22 Oct 2024

A Hong Kong man convicted of inciting secession has complained of procedural unfairness over the prison service’s refusal to grant him early release under the domestic national security law.

Adam Ma Chun-man’s lawyers said on Tuesday that the Correctional Services Department had failed to provide timely reasons in support of a decision on March 23 this year to deny him a good behaviour reduction on his five-year sentence.

They told a High Court hearing their client was only given a day to consider whether he would make any “representation” over the decision made by the commissioner of correctional services under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance.

It was only after Ma filed a written statement on March 25 that he received a prison committee’s “summary of consideration” in relation to the refusal, the court heard.

Ma, a former food delivery worker, has lodged an application for judicial review asking the court to order his immediate release from Tong Fuk Correctional Institution on Lantau Island.

The prison service has denied Ma early discharge on the grounds that a contrary decision would not be in the nation’s interests.