The Court of Final Appeal rejected the Department of Justice's application for permission to appeal against Next Media founder Jimmy Lai's employment of an overseas case, which means that in the country's security law case, Jimmy Lai was allowed to defend on behalf of Tim Owen, Queen's Counsel of the United Kingdom.
Tan Yaozong, a member of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, said earlier that hiring overseas lawyers to participate in national security law cases violated the original intention of the legislation. If the situation cannot be changed, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress must interpret the law and adjust it.
He replied to the inquiry of "Hong Kong 01" after the verdict was released, saying that he was personally disappointed and reiterated that if Hong Kong cannot correct itself, it must be corrected by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress.
▼British Queen's Counsel Tim Owen appeared in court earlier.
(See the picture below for details)▼
Tam Yiu-chung said: "I am personally disappointed with the verdict. We expected this result. As I said earlier, if Hong Kong cannot correct itself, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress must correct it."
He pointed out that the next meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress will be in late December, but since the case will officially start trial a few days later (press: December 1), it would be too late to notify the National People's Congress at that time, "But I believe the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress is very clear Regarding what happened in Hong Kong, they will consider that when there are problems in Hong Kong and the original intention of the national security law is different, the National People’s Congress may have to intervene. When to decide (whether to interpret the law) depends on the situation later.”
Li Zhiying Case︱Liang Meifen: Interpretation should be viewed with a normal heart and a learning attitude, not with political eyes The right to interpret laws rests with the National People's Congress but has confidence in the courts