AP , HONG KONG
The Hong Kong government argued yesterday that disclosing
documents about why four Taiwanese Falun Gung followers were placed on an immigration
watch list and denied entry could jeopardize the territory’s safety.
The
four Taiwanese filed a legal challenge last September seeking an explanation of
why they were barred from entering Hong Kong in February 2003 to attend a Falun
Gong conference. Seventy-six other Taiwanese followers were also turned away.
The four allege that the Hong Kong government violated their religious
freedom by succumbing to pressure from China, …
Last November, judge Michael
Hartmann ordered the release of immigration documents detailing why the Falun
Gong followers were banned, but government lawyers told a High Court yesterday
that to do so would undermine Hong Kong’s security.
"It would reveal
the internal working of the [immigration] department, necessary for the safety
of Hong Kong," said government counsel Johnny Mok outside court.
Falun
Gong practitioners protested that nondisclosure would mean an unfair trial.
"We
want to know why we are on that watch list. We are not threats to national security,”
said Theresa Chu, one of the four applicants.
"None of us has a criminal
record. Our only common characteristic is that we’re Falun Gong members."
http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2006/02/08/2003292043
The Standard,HK: Mainland role suspected in Falun Gong detention
The
decision to place Taiwanese Falun Gong practitioners on an immigration watchlist
and deny them entry into Hong Kong for a group conference is linked to the persecution
and demonization of the group by mainland authorities, the High Court heard Tuesday.
Counsel for the practitioners, Paul Harris, told the court that cryptic
affirmations filed by immigration officers would suggest that the Hong Kong SAR
had irrationally accepted the "so-called intelligence" of mainland authorities,
thereby subscribing to their "mass propaganda campaign."
The
denial of entry in 2003, at a time of political tension because of the controversial
"national security bill," is also a product of the government’s then
mistaken belief that peaceful demonstrations can be demobilized on the pretext
of being a threat to public order, Harris submitted.
Since 1999, the mainland
government has outlawed the Falun Gong. The group is, however, lawful in Hong
Kong and protected by the Basic Law which guarantees religious freedom and peaceful
assembly.
Theresa Chu, Liao Hsiao-lan, Lu Lih-ching and Chang Jenn-Yeu
were among 83 Falun Gong practitioners, coming for an international Falun Gong
conference in Hong Kong in February, 2003, who were detained and then sent back
to Taiwan. Their application for judicial review, filed in April 2003, claimed
they had been refused because of their religious affiliation, and sought a declaration
that the decision to send them home was irrational, unlawful and a breach of fundamental
rights.
But in light of government affirmations that say they were sent
home because they were listed on the watchlist, Harris is seeking to amend their
challenge, arguing their listing on the watchlist was also irrational.
The
additional challenge, said Harris, arises from the "cryptic messages"
of the affirmation by the immigration commander of the airport division, Choy
Tak-po, who was in charge the day the applicants were detained and sent home.
Last September, Choy said the applicants were on the watchlist because intelligence
said they were involved with persons suspected to be "engaged in organizing
activities which posed threats to public order in Hong Kong."
Harris
said Tuesday that "public order" is distinct from "national security"
in that disruptions to public order can be legally justified in the context
of peaceful demonstrations. But there are no justifications for disrupting public
order in the mainland, where rights to peaceful assembly and demonstration are
not protected and where the group is being widely persecuted, said Harris.
If
the source of the "so-called intelligence" was the mainland, then it
was irrational for the Immigration Department to adhere to that information, and
suggests compliance with the mistaken belief that peaceful demonstrations can
be denied on the pretext of being a threat to public order.
In March 2002,
16 Falun Gong members were arrested for demonstrating outside the Liaison Office
of the Central People’s Government.
At the time these Taiwanese Falun Gong
members were denied entry, those 16 others had already been convicted for obstructing
a public place and resisting arrest, said Harris. Those arrests however, were
conducted with a misunderstanding of the right to peaceful assembly.
©
2005 The Standard, Sing Tao Media Corporation.
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=11&art_id=11581&sid=6570921&con_type=1
Posting date: 9/Feb/2006
Original article date: 6/Feb/2006
Category:
Media Reports
