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Opinion | Detained Hongkongers: Beijing must show its legal system can be trusted
- Beijing’s handling of the 12 detainees so far is exactly why there was such fierce opposition to Hong Kong’s now-dead extradition bill
- Giving those held a fair, transparent trial would help restore Hong Kong’s battered reputation and build trust in the mainland’s legal system
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It was painful to watch TV images of sobbing parents pleading for government help for 12 young Hongkongers arrested at sea by mainland authorities while fleeing to Taiwan. What can be more distressful for parents than not knowing if their children are safe or feeling totally helpless while their offspring face an uncertain fate?
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If the parents were hoping for compassion from our leader, Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, they didn’t get it. She icily told a media briefing two days ago that the 12 were fugitives who must face mainland justice. She used equally stone-cold words last week when she refused to comment on police officers tackling a 12-year-old, unarmed girl to the ground.
I agree that the 12, who are wanted for alleged offences in Hong Kong, should bear the consequences of illegally – actually inadvertently – entering mainland waters even though mainland China’s opaque judicial system is totally alien to Hongkongers. There’s nothing we can do about that.
Beijing’s handling of the 12 so far is exactly why there was such fierce opposition to Lam’s now-dead extradition bill. Hongkongers feared that those extradited would be at the mercy of mainland China’s secretive legal system. They are now seeing that first-hand.
Even mainland lawyers appointed by some parents of the detained were barred from seeing them. Instead, the central government said it had appointed lawyers for the 12. Were the detained even told they could choose between the court-appointed lawyers and those hired by their parents?
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Hongkongers arrested at sea should ‘be dealt with’ according to mainland law, says Carrie Lam
Hongkongers arrested at sea should ‘be dealt with’ according to mainland law, says Carrie Lam
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying responded to a US State Department tweet about worsening human rights here by telling the United States to check its facts, labelling the 12 as separatists. Who can blame the parents for dreading the mainland’s courts when those accused of illegal entry are also labelled separatists without a trial?
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