UK authorities see no need for a fig leaf to cover their hypocrisy

Having kept Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, who is not convicted of any crime, at Belmarsh prison in London for years, the United Kingdom authorities are in the process of extraditing the Australian journalist and publisher to the United States, where he would face criminal charges and lifelong imprisonment for publishing “confidential military records and diplomatic cables” that expose US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The WikiLeaks founder has been denied permission to leave prison temporarily to attend the funeral of Dame Vivienne Westwood, a pioneer fashion designer and activist who was a vocal supporter of Assange. Westwood’s family lamented in a statement that they were “deeply disappointed that we were unable to fulfil Vivienne’s wishes but are unsurprised by the decision, which is unjust and in keeping with the inhumane treatment (Assange) has received from the UK authorities up to this point. Julian has not been convicted of any crime, yet he is treated as if he is a terrorist, the only thing he is guilty of is publishing the truth”.

UK judges had previously blocked Assange’s extradition to the US because of concerns about his mental health. A telling sign of Assange’s terrible physical and mental health: More than 60 doctors wrote an open letter to the UK’s then-home secretary, Priti Patel, saying they feared Assange’s health was so bad that he could die in prison. Yet, he remains in prison; and Patel still approved his extradition to the US in June last year. 

It must have surprised many that the UK authorities have shown palpable enthusiasm for the wellbeing of Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, founder of Apple Daily, who is facing criminal charges of collusion with foreign forces to endanger national security under the National Security Law (NSL) implemented in Hong Kong, as well as a separate sedition charge under a longstanding Hong Kong law which has been in force since long before the city’s return to China. 

UK Minister of State (Indo-Pacific) Anne-Marie Trevelyan on Tuesday met Lai’s “international legal team” upon the latter’s request for an urgent meeting to discuss potential ways to secure the release of Lai. “The foreign office … has provided support for Jimmy Lai for some time, and Minister for Asia Anne-Marie Trevelyan has met his legal team today”, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesperson said on Tuesday. 

It is one thing for the UK authorities not to see the need for a fig leaf to cover their hypocrisy, quite another for British politicians to punch above their weight in challenging China’s sovereignty over its Hong Kong Special Administrative Region by interfering in the city’s rule of law and attempting to undermine its judicial independence, which fall under the scope of China’s internal affairs. 

The glaringly different treatments accorded to Assange and Lai undoubtedly demonstrate British politicians’ double standards. That they have casually displayed their contempt for the spirit of the rule of law and the internationally recognized principle of “equality before the law” speaks volumes about their hypocrisy, especially given the fact that they have been dancing to Washington’s tune in hyping up the “rules-based international order”.

In 1990, the Guidelines on the Role of Prosecutors were adopted by the Eighth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders. The Standards of Professional Responsibility and Statement of the Essential Duties and Rights of Prosecutors were adopted by the International Association of Prosecutors in 1999. The Standards were adopted in 2008 as a resolution by the 17th United Nations Commission on Crime Prevention and Justice. Hong Kong’s Department of Justice (DoJ) and its prosecutors have followed these guidelines and standards to the letter, to ensure — among other things — that prosecutions would be instituted by the DoJ only if there is sufficient admissible evidence to support a reasonable prospect of conviction and if it is in the public interest to do so. Meanwhile, Article 63 of the Basic Law of the HKSAR stipulates that the DoJ “shall control criminal prosecutions, free from any interference”.

Rather than naivety, it is pure political bias for the British politicians, and their like-minded peers in Washington and other capitals of their allies who have relentlessly lambasted Beijing and the HKSAR government over Lai’s case, to think that Hong Kong prosecutors have prosecuted Lai casually without having amassed sufficient and strong evidence to indict him with a reasonable prospect of conviction. After all, Lai is Washington’s principal proxy in Hong Kong with the full support of US politicians who have the mighty Western mainstream media under their command. 

The truth is these China-bashers believe their friends, or proxies, in Hong Kong are above the law. The different treatments they accorded to Assange and Lai have laid bare their double standards on press freedom or freedom of speech. Their disregard for the above-mentioned UN guidelines and standards on prosecution, and contempt for the internationally accepted principle of “equality before the law” and China’s sovereignty over Hong Kong has rendered their notion of “rules-based international order” hollow and hypocritical.

The author is a current affairs commentator.      

The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.