Pressure on Hong Kong’s judiciary to take tough calls on protesters

Since mainland China took control over autonomous region Hong Kong, the judiciary has been pressured to make difficult calls on the protestors for even their slightest movements. The recent one is a 31-year-old man being jailed for throwing eggs in a police station. The jail term is 21 months. 

While giving her judgment, magistrate Winnie Lau said in her statement that even though an egg is not a weapon for mass destruction, it is the action that provoked "discontent" with the force, undermining officers. 

Earlier the media reports suggested that the court has received full backing from the Chinese officials on such decisions on the protestors. The case of  Pun Ho-Chiu is the new edition to many arrests that were made this year as a part of the unrest in the country due to the Chinese taking control of Hong Kong. The political unrest has lasted for over a year now. 

The pressure is on the judges to give tougher sentences to set out an example for the forthcoming activities that people want to direct against the government. Beijing has tightened its grip this year after the introduction of the national security law for Hong Kong. 

According to the Chinese media, the judges who showed a just or lenient approach to the protesters were highly criticized by the communist power. One of the newspapers, supposedly a pro-Beijing outlet, published a report saying, “In theory, judges must not take political sides in a court of law, but in Hong Kong, many members of the public now see some judges as 'yellow judges' who practice political favoritism for offenders from the opposition camp." 

On this statement, the Hong Kong Bar association kept a strong stance saying that the media should not comment on the political stance of the judges. Having said that, people in power especially the judges siding with the protestors have also come under the radar. For example, Chief Justice Geoffrey Ma announced the removal of District Court judge Kwok Wai-kin in May this year. 

The judge reportedly defended a protester stabbing three people who were stopping him from entering a restricted area. The judge called him a victim in his closing statement. The sudden show of power and threat of expression is especially threatening for Hong Kong because it has established itself as an independent, free country. 

It has shown pride over its long prized independent judiciary and rule of law. This is one of the characteristics that set the Chinese land apart from mainland China. Beijing is known to have a biased judiciary, where the whole system is in favor of the communist party of China. 

Hong Kong is continuously fighting for its rights and has been demanding to get separated from the rule of China over the once autonomous region. The move has been criticized all over the world.