Li Zhiying, the founder of Next Media, was allowed to hire British Queen’s Counsel Tim Owen to come to Hong Kong to defend a case involving the National Security Law. The Department of Justice appealed to the Court of Final Appeal. The Court of Finals today rejected the approval of the Department of Justice, which means that the appeal against the defense’s employment of British foreign aid has officially stopped. Chief Executive Lee Ka-chao met with reporters in the evening and said that he would propose to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress for interpretation.
Li Jiachao said that he would mention Li Zhiying’s case in the report submitted to the central government, and suggested that it be submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress for interpretation to clarify whether lawyers without local full qualifications can handle national security cases.
Li Jiachao mentioned that one of the reasons for the proposed interpretation of the law is that he is worried that the Hong Kong SAR has no effective way to exclude overseas lawyers or barristers who have conflicts of interest because of their own national interests, and there is no effective way to ensure that such lawyers are protected from foreign governments. There is no effective way to ensure that the lawyer can abide by Article 63 of the Hong Kong National Security Law to keep state secrets, commercial secrets and personal privacy confidential.
He pointed out that Hong Kong residents have the right to choose a lawyer, but this right means that the lawyer is a lawyer with full qualifications in Hong Kong, not an overseas lawyer without the above-mentioned qualifications. Therefore, defendants in cases of endangering national security cannot hire overseas lawyers. , which is in line with the requirements of Articles 4 and 5 of the National Security Law to respect and protect the rights and freedom of the arrested persons.
Regarding the Department of Justice’s loss, Lee Ka-chao said that the Department of Justice has put all its efforts into the appeal process, collecting and sorting out the strongest and most comprehensive arguments to present to the court, affirming their efforts and respecting the final judgment of the court.