British justice at Hong Kong’s top court declines to renew term

London  — Another overseas, nonpermanent judge at Hong Kong’s top court, 86-year-old Briton Nicholas Phillips, has chosen not to renew his term after it ended on Sept. 30, becoming the fifth foreign judge to step down from the Court of Final Appeal this year.

Phillips told VOA through his chamber, Brick Court Chambers, in an email Monday, “I have declined the invitation to serve for a further 3 year term on the Court of Final Appeal of Hong Kong for personal and not political reasons.”

According to the chamber, he would not comment further.

The Hong Kong Judiciary thanked him in a statement sent to online media The Witness for his contribution to the work of the Court of Final Appeal and his support for the rule of law in Hong Kong during his tenure over the past 12 years. It added that “the recent changes in court personnel will not affect the operation of the Court of Final Appeal.”

It went on to say despite the departure of the judges this year, the majority of serving and outgoing nonpermanent judges have publicly reaffirmed their continued confidence in Hong Kong’s independent judicial system and the courts’ commitment to upholding the rule of law.

The Court of Final Appeal is formed by the chief justice, three local permanent judges, and 10 nonpermanent judges. The nonpermanent judges include four local judges and six overseas judges.

Anthony Gleeson, an 85-year-old former chief justice from Australia, did not renew his term in March, citing his advanced age. Canadian judge Beverley McLachlin also said she would not renew her term after July because she was 80 and hoped to spend more time with family.

In June, two British judges, Lawrence Collins, 83, and Jonathan Sumption, 75, resigned from the court, saying it was because of the city’s worsening political situation and “profoundly compromised” rule of law.

Rights activists say Hong Kong’s government is using the foreign judges to lend credibility to its crackdown on rights and freedoms since Britain returned the financial hub to China in 1997.

The Washington-based Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong (CFHK) Foundation issued a report in May criticizing overseas judges in Hong Kong for undermining its freedoms and called for them to quit. The foundation said it was shocked that it took Phillips so long to quit despite a series of high-profile cases targeting Hong Kong’s pro-democracy groups, which prompted at least two judges to resign.

Alyssa Fong, public affairs and advocacy manager for CFHK Foundation, said the more foreign judges that resign, the less the Hong Kong government can use them to justify rights abuses.

“I urge Phillips’ fellow common law judges from the U.K. and Australia to immediately follow suit. It is dumbfounding that some judges continue to choose to ruin their reputations and their integrity for the Hong Kong authorities and Chinese Communist Party,” she told VOA.

After Phillips’ departure, six overseas judges remain in the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal — Leonard Hoffmann and David Neuberger from Britain and William Gummow, Robert French, Patrick Keane, and James Allsop from Australia.

Hoffmann, 90, has been a nonpermanent judge of the Court of Final Appeal since 1998, and his term will end in mid-January next year. Gummow’s term will expire next July, while the terms of the other three Australian judges will expire in 2026 or 2027.

At the end of June, Neuberger heard Hong Kong’s case accusing Apple Daily newspaper founder Jimmy Lai of unauthorized assembly and agreed with the controversial verdict. Neuberger came under criticism, then resigned as chairman of an expert panel of the Media Freedom Coalition.

Kevin Yam, a Hong Kong activist-lawyer now based in Australia, pointed out on social media X that Phillips could have left office on the grounds of age, but he chose to use personal reasons, which he notes would invite some speculation.

“When even Phillips does this, the four remaining Australian judges on the HKCFA stick out even more like sore thumbs,” Yam said on X.

The Hong Kong government awarded Phillips the Gold Bauhinia Star in July last year and described him as “a strong supporter of the rule of law in Hong Kong and very much a friend of Hong Kong.”

Beijing agreed to uphold Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” political structure when colonial ruler Britain transferred the city back to China in 1997.

Critics say Beijing has violated that deal by forcing harsh security laws on Hong Kong that have seen independent media shut down or leave the city and dissidents face arrest or flee abroad.

Beijing says Hong Kong’s 2020 National Security Law was needed to maintain stability after a series of pro-democracy protests in the past decade, but has used it to arrest, jail and try hundreds of activists, stifling Hong Kong’s once vibrant civil society.

In March, Hong Kong lawmakers unanimously and quickly approved their own sweeping national security law known as Basic Law Article 23, strengthening the government’s ability to silence dissent.

Adrianna Zhang contributed to this report.
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