Chairwoman of the Bar Association’s committee for constitutional affairs and human rights says the authorities should explain the legal basis for denying a work visa for Victor Mallet, the Asia news editor for the Financial Times
Hong Kong’s top lawyers have questioned the government’s legal basis to deny a British journalist’s work visa, saying a controversial talk he moderated happened one month before the speaker’s pro-independence party was officially outlawed.
The group of lawyers, including Po Wing-kay, the chairwoman of the Bar Association’s committee for constitutional affairs and human rights, was referring to the Immigration Department’s recent rejection of the work visa for Victor Mallet, the Asia news editor for the Financial Times .
Mallet was the acting president of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club when it hosted a talk by Andy Chan Ho-tin, the founder of Hong Kong National Party (HKNP), which was banned last month on grounds of national security and public order.
The government has remained tight-lipped on the reasons behind the rejection of Mallet’s visa.
In the absence of a plausible explanation, Po said Mallet was essentially “expelled” for organising the talk, which he said was far from illegal at the time.
“… It is more like a case of: ‘We don’t really like you any more’,” she wrote in a commentary to be published by the Post .
Po added there was “serious doubt” over whether the authority’s ban on the HKNP was legal, including a lack of proof that the HKNP had posed “a genuine threat of force”.
“If the ban itself is unlawful, it renders the ‘eviction’ or Mr Mallet doubly absurd,” Po said.
This was also echoed by criminal law professor Simon Young of the University of Hong Kong, who stressed that Mallet had not committed any criminal offence back in August and has a legitimate right to know why his working visa was denied.
