Hong Kong (AFP) - Australian and Canadian judges confirmed Thursday they will stay on Hong Kong's top court after two senior British justices resigned to avoid endorsing China's crackdown on political freedoms in the financial hub.
Judges from common law jurisdictions are invited to sit as non-permanent members at Hong Kong's top court, which is separate from mainland China's opaque, party-controlled legal system.
UK Supreme Court President Robert Reed and fellow judge Patrick Hodge resigned from the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal on Wednesday, saying the government had "departed from values of political freedom and freedom of expression".
Four of the ten remaining overseas judges -- who unlike Reed and Hodge are retired -- have said they will remain, including Australian judges William Gummow, Anthony Murray Gleeson and Robert French.
"We do not intend to resign and we support the judges of the Court of Final Appeal in their commitment to judicial independence," Gummow, Gleeson and French told AFP in a joint statement.
Former Canadian chief justice Beverley McLachlin also told the Globe and Mail newspaper that said she would remain.
The six remaining members, who are retired British judges, have not made clear if they will stay or resign.
City leader Carrie Lam described the resignations on Thursday as a "political plot" by the British government which has repeatedly criticised China's clampdown in Hong Kong.
"I remain very confident that we still have very fine judges in the judiciary, both local and from overseas.Hong Kong will continue to benefit significantly," she told reporters.
'Systematic erosion of liberty'
UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss said Wednesday that Hong Kong's national security law -- imposed by China in 2020 after months of democracy protests in the city -- had led to a "systematic erosion of liberty and democracy".
Truss added it was "no longer tenable" for serving British judges to sit on Hong Kong's top court, as it would risk "legitimising oppression".
Legal analysts say the remaining British justices could come under pressure to follow Reed and Hodge in stepping down.
"I would be surprised if this very significant step...did not give the others very serious pause for thought," British lawyer Schona Jolly wrote on Twitter.
However because those judges are retired they will have to make up their own minds individually.
They include David Neuberger, a former head of Britain's Supreme Court, and Jonathan Sumption, who also used to sit on the UK's top court.
Neuberger's clerk told AFP he was "considering the announcement from the UK Supreme Court" but would not say more for now.
China said it "strongly deplored" the resignations, which were also criticised by Hong Kong's two professional legal bodies, the Law Society and the Bar Association.
The British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong also hit out at the move.
In a statement it urged remaining foreign judges to stay on saying they "would be greatly valued by our business community".
But local lawyer and former student leader Kenneth Lam said Hong Kong had become a place where "speech can be criminalised, critics of the regime can be jailed, and those awaiting trial can be kept behind bars for years."
"How much of a price must we pay before we are willing to face the fact that Hong Kong, once an international city that respects free speech and personal freedom, has become unrecognisable," he wrote on Facebook.
