Judges, politics just don't mix, insists Bokhary

Kemal Bokhary, a nonpermanent judge in Hong Kong's highest court, says he has no plans to resign.

In response to a question on whether British judges should remain in the Court of Final Appeal, Bokhary said judges should not get embroiled in political controversies.

Bokhary, who at 73 is the most senior nonpermanent judge in Hong Kong's top court, said he does not have any intention of being involved in political controversies or leaving the Court of Final Appeal.

"You may have guessed that I do not think anybody else should do so either," Bokhary told reporters after receiving his vaccination yesterday.

He said he has every confidence in the judiciary and that he is not afraid of anything that might happen.

Society has not lost confidence in the courts yet, but there are people that really do not believe in the courts, he said.

"If even doing so cannot regain their confidence in the judiciary, simply telling them to trust the courts would surely be useless," Bokhary said.

"Therefore I will continue with my job. I was at the court this month and I will hear cases next month. I will just get on with my job."

Fellow nonpermanent judge Robert Reed, who is also the head of Britain's Supreme Court, earlier said he will leave if Hong Kong's situation reaches a point that they can no longer "serve with conscience."

In response, Bokhary said: "There is always a critical point for judges in every region that they will feel that they could no longer serve as a judge, but I do not think Hong Kong will reach that point."

Calls for British judges to quit the Hong Kong system have intensified since changes to the electoral system were introduced by the National People's Congress earlier this month.

Reed told a British newspaper that senior London figures had told him to leave Hong Kong's top court on the day China's parliament passed the electoral changes.

He said he will meet Foreign Minister Dominic Raab and Lord Chancellor Robert Buckland to review the appointment of British judges to Hong Kong's top court.

Bokhary's remarks came days after Jonathan Sumption, a British nonpermanent judge in the Court of Final Appeal, said in a letter to British media that Britain withdrawing judges is disregarding the difference between democracy and the rule of law.

Sumption also considered London's move to withdraw judges as merely a political boycott. He indicated he will remain in Hong Kong's Court of Final Appeal.

michael.shum@singtaonewscorp.com