Hong Kong extradition bill should be dropped because of ‘serious risk of human rights violations’ in mainland China, say foreign lawyers
- British lawyer leads profession’s overseas calls for city to shelve fugitive proposals as he accuses officials of wrongly citing UK system to justify changes
- Another top legal mind counters, saying concerns are exaggerated and mainland China’s is much improved
A group of prominent foreign lawyers has joined Hong Kong counterparts in calling for the city to immediately withdraw its controversial extradition bill because it poses a “serious risk of human rights violations” in mainland China.
Mark Summers QC, a British extradition expert and member of the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (BHRC), also said on Tuesday that Hong Kong officials had wrongly cited Canadian and British laws to justify the proposed amendment.
Thousands of lawyers, including some of the city’s top legal experts, joined a silent march on June 6 to denounce what they considered to be the government’s rushing of the bill.
Officials defended the legislation, pointing to similar one-off extradition models in Britain, Canada, and New Zealand. Proponents of the bill said it provides binding human rights guarantees like an open trial, without spelling it out in the legislation to remain flexible.
