Hong Kong: Falun Gong Practitioners Question Appeals Court Verdict

Regarding the Hong Kong Appeals Court verdict on a case involving the expulsion of four Falun Gong practitioners, Chang Chinghsi, chair of the Falun Dafa Association in Taiwan, and four plaintiffs, Chu Wanchi, Liu Hsiaolan, Chang Chenyu, and Li Liching, held a press conference with lawyers Lin Fengcheng and Chuang Shengrong. They criticized the Appeals Court for giving in to pressure from Chinese authorities and delivering an unjust verdict.

On September 4th, 2009, the court dismissed a challenge against Hong Kong's Immigration Department by four Falun Gong practitioners over their expulsion from Hong Kong in 2003. The appeals court judges criticised the Hong Kong government for not being "fair and frank" during the hearings into the expulsions.

Many local media covered the story

Press conference

The Hong Kong government often violently expelled Falun Gong practitioners. In the photo, the government officials tied up a Falun Gong practitioner and carried him onto an airplane later.

Chu Wanchi, one of the five appellants, and a lawyer who also represented the group in court, yesterday called the ruling by the appeals court "strange" and "unjust."

At a press conference in Taipei, Chu said that in the 90-plus page ruling, the judges devoted 60 pages to criticizing the immigration department, and by extension the Hong Kong government, for breaching the principle of "candour," a legal duty by which the government must not purposely mislead the court or obstruct its proceedings by withholding key information. She also pointed out that the plaintiffs have asked the Hong Kong Immigration Department to show certain relevant documents, but the department answers that all the documents were destroyed three weeks after the expulsions happened. She said the department has never given them a reason for the expulsion.

Human rights attorney Lin Fengcheng pointed out that the verdict was unjust and criticized that the court gave in to the pressure. He encouraged practitioners to file lawsuits again, and expose to the public the unjust legal system in Hong Kong.

Human rights attorney Chuang Shengrong also pointed out that the persecution of Falun Gong by the Chinese government has extended outside of China.

Background:

Eighty Taiwan Falun Gong practitioners Denied Entry to Hong Kong

A total of more than eighty Taiwan Falun Gong practitioners were refused entry to Hong Kong, including the four plaintiffs. They had planned to attend the "World Falun Dafa Experience Sharing Conference" on February 22nd, 2003. When they arrived in Hong Kong on February 21th, the Immigration Office rejected their entry without reasonable explanation and expelled them on the same return flight.

The plaintiffs expressed that the Immigration Office rejected their entry because they were Falun Gong practitioners, so this was an obvious case of religious discrimination and violated the "Basic Law" of Hong Kong and Hong Kong Human Rights Acts, as well as international human rights treaties. They requested that the court overturn the Immigration Office decision.

Two of the plaintiffs were violently expelled, though they offered no resistance. The violence left them with injuries and thus they requested compensation.

Since 2002, under the pressure from the Chinese government, the Hong Kong government has refused Falun Gong practitioners entry into Hong Kong more than 1200 times, and some practitioners have been violently expelled.