The Bar Council of England & Wales welcomes the decision of the Chief Executive of Hong Kong to suspend the process of amending the extradition laws of the Special Administrative Region.
"The Bar Council notes the serious concerns made of the proposed laws by several highly-respected international human rights organisations. We are encouraged that the Chief Executive announced that the Government will "accept criticisms and make improvements" to the law of extradition and we exhort her to take account of the criticisms made of the shortcomings in the proposed amendments to the law by those international bodies.
"As much as any other area of law, the law of extradition must be carefully crafted and then guarded to ensure it is not open to abuse. Any law must guarantee that citizens of and visitors to Hong Kong are not subjected to decisions on extradition which are politically-motivated or made without the oversight and ultimate control of an independent judiciary."