HKJA losses legal challenge over police’s ill-treatment of press

The High Court today rejected a challenge by the Hong Kong Journalists Association over claims that police “ill-treated” journalists during last year’s social unrest.

The association submitted 13 accounts from affected journalists to the court, challenge the Hong Kong Police over their patterns of “deliberately aggressive and obstructive police tactics as well as unnecessary and excessive force.”

The police were said to have failed to make sure the media could carry out their duties while reporting on protests, including journalists being shot with rubber bullets, hit with batons, and targeted with tear gas at close range.

However, Judge Anderson Chow Ka-ming said the allegations raised by the HKJA simply could not be dealt with in the judicial review, even though they were reasonably arguable.

Chow ruled that “the proper course” for journalists who felt that they were improperly treated would be legal action against the Commissioner of the force, or the government.

“The judgment did not mean that the court had ruled on whether the police acted wrongfully or not, and it could only be determined after a full investigation,” Chow added.

He went on to say that the police force’s duty to ensure journalists’ safety and not hinder their work was not “absolute,” where officers also need to consider their duty to maintain law and order and the lawfulness of the conduct of protesters and journalists.

The association since posted on their Facebook page that they were “extremely disappointed” about the court’s decision, adding that under the “fundamentally flawed” complaint system of the police, it would be extremely difficult to challenge police misconduct using the current complaint mechanism or the time-consuming legal process.

The association said that they would decide the next course of action after studying the judgment with their legal team.