A lecture in Hong Kong by the British barrister embroiled in a legal battle over whether he can represent the pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai has been cancelled without explanation, raising concerns about the diminishing space for free speech in the semi-autonomous Chinese city.
Timothy Owen KC was due to give a talk entitled “Judges, Democracy and the Criminal Law” at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) on 17 November. But on Tuesday, the lecture was cancelled without explanation, with the university citing “unforeseen circumstances”. The website for the law faculty appears to be offline.
The talk was co-hosted with Boase Cohen & Collins, a local law firm. Last month, in an article advertising the talk, Colin Cohen, a senior partner, said he was “thrilled” that Owen had accepted the firm’s invitation to deliver the lecture, adding: “We are certain that his talk will be hugely popular with a large cross-section of the legal profession and the general public.” The link to register for the talk is no longer active.
The talk had been advertised as a discussion of “the growing threats to judicial independence and the rule of law with particular focus on the administration of criminal justice”.
HKU declined to elaborate on the reason for the cancellation. Boase Cohen & Collins have been approached for comment. Owen declined to comment.
Owen has clashed with the authorities over his ability to represent Lai in his national security trial.
Lai, 75, is charged with colluding with foreign forces under the city’s national security law, charges the British government describes as “highly politicised”.
In November 2022, Hong Kong’s top court ruled that Owen could defend Lai in the trial, despite multiple objections from the territory’s Department of Justice.
Hong Kong’s chief executive, John Lee, then asked Beijing to intervene, prompting an “interpretation” of Hong Kong’s national security law to clarify that foreign lawyers could not work on national security cases without approval from the city’s chief executive, or head of government.
This interpretation was later enshrined into Hong Kong’s law, with the authorities using that new power to block Owen from Lai’s case in May. Lai’s legal team is appealing against that decision.
The cancellation of Owen’s talk at HKU comes after a number of incidents that have raised concerns about academic freedom in the Chinese territory.
In October, it emerged that Rowena He, a Canadian historian who researches the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, had been fired from her post as an associate professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, after the city’s immigration authorities declined to extend her visa.
Last year, Ryan Thoreson, a US human rights scholar who had previously worked at Human Rights Watch, was denied a visa to teach human rights law at HKU. No explanation was given.
