spbhk

I am no longer employed by Bank of America, but I’m unable to say more than that for reasons that I’m sure you all can figure out.

For now I am focused on my appeal, and then will make decisions about my own future. As for whether there is any hope for Hong Kong, I don't see it going back to what it was in the foreseeable future, as all signs point instead to increasing restrictions and pressures on rule of law. Hongkongers that are able to do so have left or are planning to leave. Others will stay behind and make do as best as they can.

Some Western observers, particularly in the business community, have minimized the risk to foreigners in Hong Kong of being targeted by the Police. But my case shows that the Police have no fear of targeting Westerners when it suits them—even using the National Security Law. Another American lawyer, John Clancey, was arrested on national security grounds and could still be charged. At this point, the Hong Kong Government’s rising hostility towards Western countries mean it is only going to become more and more likely that the NSL will be used to imprison Western residents and visitors as a means to further their political goals.

Avoiding politics won’t protect Westerners either. My case was unrelated to any political protests or activism, and in recent months the government assault on civil society has expanded well beyond political activists, targeting among others the oldest and largest teachers’ union, the Bar Association, and the Law Society. Most recently, they have been going after organizations that provide basic support for prisoners, such as helping with legal expenses or providing things like letters from pen pals or shampoo, as well as the Hong Kong Journalists Association, which just today the Security Secretary said may be violating national security—and these sorts of statements are nearly always the first step in intimidating them to shut down or have the leadership all be arrested.

My case is blindingly obvious to anyone who looks at the videos for 5 minutes, so I've had pretty much universal support across the board (except of course from the occasional online tankie, a group who will say the sky is magenta if they think that's what the CCP would like them to believe, but neither I nor anyone else really cares what they think).

Prior to the protest movements, most locals I knew and most expats had little issue with the Police. They were known as "Asia's Finest," and a majority would have said they were fair. But one thing I really began to understand in prison, when I got to know so many of Hong Kong's poor and "rejects,"--triads, drug dealers, etc.--was that the police have never been good to them. They've always been abused by the police, even while the middle class was blissfully ignorant of it (which might sound familiar to American ears). So I'd say what really changed in recent years is that the police abuses started extending to the middle classes too.

It's really an open question how much the judiciary has been compromised. My impression as a lawyer is similar to yours: that the magistrate and district courts have been more malleable into the new order than the relatively independent higher courts. In magistrates courts, we're seeing people given years-long prison sentences for things like twist ties and laser pointers, which is absurd, though some other magistrates have been more than happy to call out the police by stating in no uncertain terms that officers have lied on the stand (yet the DOJ has refused to charge any of those officers with perjury, of course).

As for the high court, there are some extraordinarily bad outcomes coming out of the on things like bail and national security issues, but a lot of that is a result of the new national security law itself being incredibly broad in how it limits the rights of defendants to bail, jury trials, etc.--the judges are having to interpret a very repressive law. I really can't overstate how disturbing some of the provisions of the National Security Law are--it is deliberately designed to bypass Hong Kong's due process and individual rights protections to create a parallel system of proceedings where defendants can be locked up without trial for years, tried in secret in front of specially selected judges without a jury, and denied bail.

We haven't seen much yet from the Court of Final Appeal, though what we have seen indicates that they may be inclined to harsh sentences, but that they are interpreting the law within the bounds of what it says (even if those laws are quite bad ones).

One thing seems clear: judicial independence is not going to increase, and will probably decrease significantly over time.

In my experience, the professional classes are overwhelmingly supportive of the protest movement.