By Lo Fung

The incident of the 12 young people mistakenly falling into the CCP’s cage is heart-wrenching, and also allows the people to see clearly the cold-bloodedness and priorities of the Carrie Lam administration.

More than two years ago, Hongkonger Amber Poon Hiu-wing was murdered by her boyfriend, Chan Tong-kai, during their trip to Taiwan. However, because Chan Tong-kai absconded and returned to Hong Kong, Taiwan’s law enforcement was unable to investigate the case. With no extradition or mutual legal assistance between Hong Kong and Taiwan, plus the fact that the government did not want to treat this isolated incident as a special case, this murder case thus fell into a gray area that exists between two different jurisdictions. Legal justice was difficult to uphold, and Miss Poon’s case remains unheard and uncleared. To redress the grievances, Poon’s parents wrote to Chief Executive Carrie Lam and the SAR government for help, hoping that they would intervene to break the deadlock.

Carrie Lam, upon receiving the letter, was deeply moved and immediately decided to “take action” by proposing the “extradition law to China” to fill the legal vacuum and gray area of different jurisdictions. Despite the strong opposition from the business and legal sectors, the international community, and millions of citizens, Carrie Lam wanted to force the Legislative Council to pass the draconian law as quickly as possible. As a result, Carrie Lam’s “sympathy” launched an unprecedented political disaster in Hong Kong. Society has been torn apart, police brutality has become rampant, and the political and legal orders have become severely affected. Directly and indirectly, the draconian national security law has turned one country, two systems into one country, one system.

However, Carrie Lam has no regrets towards the consequences she has single-handedly brought about, and insisted that she has done nothing wrong and repeatedly emphasized that her actions came from the fact that she was moved by the letter from Miss Poon’s parents. She even claimed that no one, upon reading that letter, would stay a bystander, but would do everything to bring justice for Miss Poon. In addition to Carrie Lam, that Secretary for Security and that Secretary for Justice have also “been paying close attention” to the Chan Tong-kai case, and spared no effort to promote the “draconian extradition to China” to seek justice for Miss Poon’s family. The attention paid by the highest level of the SAR government to certain cases and certain families seems to be only getting higher and higher, with no end in sight.

On the other hand, 12 young people ventured out to the sea in order to escape the harsh regime and unfair prosecution, to flee towards freedom, yet unfortunately they fell into the hands of the Chinese Communist regime, became defendants in another jurisdiction, and lost all the guarantees and rights under the common law system. The youth’s families are in extreme distraught, and other than rushing around to find mainland lawyers for the young people locked up in the Shenzhen jail, they also repeatedly appealed to Carrie Lam and her government officials and hoped that the officials would pay attention to the situation of the 12 and provide assistance to their families, so that they could at least contact or get in touch with the arrestees, and know their situation, safety and health condition. The family of Andy Li Yu-hin, one young man among those who unfortunately fell into the mainland legal traps, set up a Facebook page to speak out for him, hoping that the SAR government and the international community will pay attention and extend a helping hand.

Who would have expected that Carrie Lam and her high-ranking officials, who had not hesitated to actively intervene and undermine Hong Kong’s legal system and rule of law to bring Chan Tong-kai to justice, has become totally indifferent this time around, retracted their “sympathy” and concerning eyes, said that the mainland legal system must not be interfered with, and even added that the 12 young people who violated mainland laws must wait for the mainland law enforcement and judicial departments to complete the relevant procedures before they can be offered assistance to return to Hong Kong. That Chief Secretary Matthew Cheung recounted that the SAR government has been in contact with the youths' families as many as 80 times, to demonstrate how much effort the government has put in. That Secretary for Security, on the other hand, said that the arrested youths had selected lawyers to represent according to the list of lawyers provided by the mainland government, and that their rights are protected.

Mainland’s lack of independence and justice is a well-known situation. Among them, the individual rights of individual citizens are neither respected nor protected. The defendant can be subject to arbitrary detention, prolonged interrogation, and forced replacement of lawyers, etc. The 12 youths, used to Hong Kong’s rule of law, currently faced with such an unfamiliar, terrible, and even lawless mainland judicial system, are definitely feeling hopeless and helpless. They have neither the knowledge to protect one’s rights, nor a place to go for help. The family members cannot directly get in touch with these young people. Not sure if they are alive or healthy, they must be feeling desperate and worried through the sleepless nights. How come Carrie Lam and her senior officials do not have the slightest sympathy for them, and are not coming up with more ways to help them beyond the narrative of not interfering with the mainland judicial system?

What’s more is that the mainland judicial system has always been deeply influenced by politics, leaders' thoughts and instructions, and political needs as the decisive factors of how cases are handled. Evidence and legal provisions are of less importance. Carrie Lam, as the highest representative of the SAR, who is also believed to be trusted and supported by the highest officials in the central government, should be able to speak for the young people who have fallen by mistake into the mainland legal traps, if she wanted to. Even if she could not get Beijing to immediately release the 12 and return them to Hong Kong, at least the families should be allowed to visit them to see for themselves the actual situation, and to find suitable and capable lawyers to defend the young people. These will definitely be helpful to the young people and their families.

Let’s take a step back, even if Carrie Lam fails in her negotiations, at least it would show that the SAR government is concerned about Hongkongers in trouble, and at least it would demonstrate to the international community, including the United Nations Human Rights Commissions, that the SAR government strives for the protection of human rights for citizens.

However, Carrie Lam and others are only all about the official narratives, a whole demeanor that the arrested youths have nothing to do with the government. Is such favoritism her way of punishing the young people who are willing to sacrifice themselves to fight for Hong Kong? Or maybe Carrie Lam and her senior officials are heartless and cold-blooded, and feel nothing for the life and death of Hongkongers!

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