The Hong Kong regime’s repeated incarceration of the veteran activist Alexandra Wong for peaceful protest reveals just how fearful it is of even the mildest dissent (Hong Kong activist ‘Grandma Wong’ jailed for eight months over pro-democracy protests, 14 July). Just 24 hours earlier, it jailed Koo Sze-yiu, a 75-year-old activist with terminal cancer, for planning to protest against the Beijing Winter Olympics.
What does this say about Hong Kong’s judicial system? It also poses the question once again as to why six British judges continue to sit on Hong Kong’s court of final appeal.
As Lord Reed and Lord Hodge, president and deputy president respectively of the supreme court in Britain, recognised earlier this year, British justices have failed to restrain the Beijing-backed crackdown on political freedoms, while the city’s judiciary has long been co-opted by the communists.
The continued commitment of these judges to Hong Kong’s bench serves only to legitimise Beijing’s draconian rule. British judges must play no further part in the oppression of Hongkongers.
David Alton
Crossbench peer and vice-chair of the all-party parliamentary group on Hong Kong
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