Hong Kong becoming ‘totalitarian state’, says Lord Sumption

The former Supreme Court justice, who last week resigned from the territory’s Court of Final Appeal amid fears of Beijing’s influence, said that the rule of law has been “profoundly compromised” there.

He said that the recent conviction of 14 pro-democracy campaigners was the “last straw” for him and prompted his decision to leave.

The activists face life in prison after they were found guilty of subversion and attempting to overthrow the government in 2020.

Lord Collins of Mapesbury also quit the court last week. He resigned he said “because of the political situation in Hong Kong”.

Writing in the Financial Times, Lord Sumption said there was a “growing malaise in the Hong Kong judiciary”.

“Hong Kong, once a vibrant and politically diverse community is slowly becoming a totalitarian state. The rule of law is profoundly compromised in any area about which the government feels strongly,” he said.

Lord Sumption said that “every judge knows that under the basic law, if China does not like the courts’ decisions it can have them reversed by an interpretation from the standing committee of the National People’s Congress in Beijing”.

In response to the article, John Lee, chief executive of the region, was reported in the Hong Kong Free Press as saying that while a judge is entitled to his personal political preferences it is “not a judge’s area of professional expertise”.

He said it was a judge’s duty to interpret the law in accordance with legal principles and evidence, “whether he likes that law or not, not from his political stance”.