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A British judge who was condemned for upholding the conviction of pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong has quit a top media freedom panel.
David Neuberger, who is paid £40,000 to sit as an overseas non-permanent judge on Hong Kong’s top court, has withdrawn as chair of the high-level panel of legal experts that advises the Media Freedom Coalition (MFC) advocacy group, an international NGO.
His resignation comes just days after voting to uphold a 14-month jail sentence for 76-year-old Beijing critic Mr Lai, who is a British citizen.
Lord Neuberger said it was “undesirable” that his work as an overseas judge in Hong Kong would distract from the mission of the MFC – which includes 51 countries – and resigned in a letter released on Thursday.
In the letter, Lord Neuberger said: “I have now concluded that I should go now, because it is undesirable that focus on my position as a non-permanent Judge in Hong Kong should take away, or distract, from the critical and impactful work of the High Level Panel.”
“It has been an enormous privilege and pleasure to work with so many intelligent, committed, and interesting people on such an important cause.”
But human rights groups have hit out at the decision. “He is choosing the court of Hong Kong over media freedom and integrity. We do not applaud Lord Neuberger’s resignation,” Mark Sabah of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation said. “It is absolutely astonishing that Lord Neuberger has chosen to remain on the Hong Kong Courts overseeing an appeal of British citizen, Jimmy Lai, and other pro-democracy activists, rather than step down.”
On Monday, the former Supreme Court judge voted to uphold the conviction of Mr Lai who supported anti-Beijing protests in 2019 and has been locked up for four years during a Beijing-led crackdown on dissent.
Former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten told The Independent on Tuesday that it was “obvious” the case Lord Neuberger upheld was an “act of vengeance” by the city-state’s government. Mr Lai’s son, Sebastien, said that time is “not on our side” to save his father, particularly given his age.
Mr Lai was jailed in 2021 for taking part in a pro-democracy rally, and faces a life sentence on separate national security charges described as “politically motivated” by Amnesty International.
Lord Neuberger told The Independent earlier this week that he would not comment on the Lai judgment as it had to “speak for itself”. He has previously vowed to stay on as a judge and said he would “support the rule of law the best I can”.
The Independent has reached out for comment from Lord Neuberger over his resignation from the Media Freedom Coalition.
More than 1,800 political prisoners have been detained in Hong Kong in a crackdown since mass pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Two British judges quit Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal in June and warned the territory was “slowly becoming a totalitarian state” with the rule of law “profoundly compromised”.
Mr Lai’s appeal centred on the questions of whether his conviction was proportionate to fundamental human rights protections set out in a pair of non-binding decisions by Britain‘s Supreme Court known as “operational proportionality”.
But Lord Neuberger’s judgment said the British court’s decisions should not be followed in Hong Kong as there is a difference between the legal frameworks for human rights challenges in the two jurisdictions.
British judges have sat on the Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal since 1997 on a non-permanent basis as part of an agreement when the city was handed back to China by the UK. The judges are all retired from their UK roles.
