Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal today upheld a law that makes it a crime to publicly call on people to cast blank ballots or boycott elections. Among the five judges who voted to uphold the law was William Gummow, a former justice of Australia's highest court, who has sat as a non-permanent overseas judge on the CFA since 2013. Today he lent his name, and the standing of the High Court of Australia, to criminalizing a basic act of political expression.
The reasoning is, of course, thin. The court called the restriction "necessary" because calls to cast blank ballots risk "undermining the legitimacy" of Hong Kong's elections, a legitimacy the government has done the most to erode by barring opposition candidates from running. It drew a line between abstaining and backing a candidate, holding that only abstention threatens the system, while declining to mention that openly supporting pro-democracy candidates can itself land you in prison.
The foreign judges on the CFA have drawn little public attention since the resignations a few years ago in response to a global campaign led by @thecfhk. Today is a reminder of what their presence still buys Beijing: a veneer of common law respectability over rulings that hollow out the rights those judges were meant to protect. Justice Gummow should explain why he remains on the court.
Judgment summary: https://t.co/yCF37woF7r
My 2024 report with CFHK on Hong Kong's foreign judges, "Lending Prestige to Persecution: https://t.co/57aqvveOdF
7yrs ago today, 2 million people marched in #HongKong to demand full withdrawal of an HK gov't bill that would legalize extradition to China + accountability for police brutality on 12 June. From afternoon to late evening, one of the largest protests anywhere ever.
🕯️Today, we remember Hong Kong activist Marco Leung Ling-kit (梁凌杰), the man in the yellow raincoat.
On 15 June 2019, he fell to his death after protesting against a law that would allow extradition to mainland #China.
His tragic death moved millions to march for freedom in #HongKong on June 16, 2019.
My new briefing for @CSR_Institute: Of the 14 oil tankers the US seized or sanctioned in the months before Venezuela's Maduro fell, at least 10 had ties to Hong Kong.
One firm, Galaxy (Hong Kong) Business Co., served as corporate secretary to at least four of these sanctioned companies, in several cases signing on after OFAC had already designated them. Galaxy itself remains untouched by any western sanctions, as do its directors. Their staff openly advertise the services on LinkedIn, Instagram, and Facebook.
The same infrastructure keeps Russia, Iran, and North Korea sanctions evasion humming along. Until western sanctions stop chasing the disposable shell companies at the top and start going after the established corporate secretaries, banks, and logistics providers beneath them, the machinery just gets reused by the next smugglers.
Full briefing: https://t.co/T1zChRx0RX
7 years later, a total 10286 people arrested, 7 more since Nov 2025, with 3 charged 6 and a half years after the alleged crime occurred, 1 was only 14 or 15 years old back in 2019.
On this day 7yrs ago tens of thousands of #HongKongers surrounded the Legislative Council building to stop passage by the rigged pro-CCP Legco of a bill legalizing extradition to China. Protesters were attacked by police, leading to months of huge protests in the millions.🧵
On this day 7 years ago, >1 million marched in #HongKong against a gov't plan to allow extradition to China, setting off mass protests that lasted 8mo--one of the largest, longest protest movements in modern history. The regime's response: severe repression that's still ongoing.
HK Sec. for Justice Paul Lam: The Chief Executive's determining a normal criminal case endangers national security cannot be revoked or appealed by the courts as it involves "sensitive, highly classified information" and not something the courts is capable making a judgment on.
Hong Kong has proposed legislation allowing its leader to designate certain criminal acts as national security offences.
Critics say the move further weakens civil liberties following years of tightening security laws.
The Hong Kong government has officially gazetted the subsidiary legislation to allow the Chief Executive to certify normal criminal acts as a national security case, with the law coming into effect immediately.
The new film "No Time for Goodbye" is now showing in 6 cities around the UK. It's about 2 asylum seekers from #HongKong. Hopefully it will eventually get wider distribution. See the trailer here: https://t.co/k47ms3Zdii
In this article for @Diplomat_APAC, our Head of Advocacy and Research Thomas Benson outlines findings from our survey of the #HongKong diaspora in 🇬🇧, and how transnational repression may be worryingly widespread.
Read in full👇
https://t.co/Z9eyiE7WbA
🚨 Police have detained the owner of one of #HongKong’s last independent bookstores, along with three staff, over allegations of selling “seditious” materials.
Items seized include a biography of 🇬🇧 citizen Jimmy Lai by @MarkLClifford.
This is yet another stark warning sign about the state of freedom of expression in the city. The international community must not turn a blind eye.
https://t.co/jDJJ6LTgGC
🚨BREAKING: Hong Kong independent bookseller Pong Yat-ming and three of his staff have reportedly been arrested on suspicion of selling seditious titles, including a biography of jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai.
In full: https://t.co/bxj4OU7RAE