Attacks against Adelaide lawyer condemned by legal body

“The purpose of the threat letter is, of course, to use fiction, to cooperate with cross-border law enforcement and repression, to incite others to violent ways to block my work on democracy and freedom in Hong Kong,” Hui said in the translated post.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Hui sought refuge in Australia in 2021 only to be hit with an arrest warrant in 2023 on what he said were trumped-up national security charges.

The Law Society of South Australia president, Marissa Mackie, said she was “deeply concerned” by the correspondence, which has since been circulated to “various sections” of the community.

“No member of the legal profession, or anyone for that matter, deserves to be intimidated, harassed, surveilled, or impersonated by another person. The Law Society denounces these intimidation tactics used against Hui,” Mackie said in a statement.

Hui has publicly condemned the national security laws as undermining the “one country, two systems” agreement between China and Hong Kong, which had been designed to protect freedom of speech and freedom of assembly in Hong Kong.

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In the past, the Law Council of Australia raised serious concerns about the national security law’s impact on the independence of the Hong Kong judiciary, the restrictions of freedom of assembly and political expression, and powers afforded to the chief executive to intervene in national security legal proceedings.

Former president Greg McIntyre SC called on Hong Kong and China’s authorities to “uphold the rights protected under international law”, repeal legislation that undermines the rule of law, “and guarantee and uphold the independence of the legal profession and judiciary”.

Mackie echoed these concerns and those expressed by Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong about the “alarming nature” of the correspondence.

“I have informed the Australian Foreign Minister’s Office and the Federal Police in close contact with the Australian government in connection with this threat letter,” Hui said.

“The federal police have also been informed that they will arrange to meet with me to take statements, conduct evidence searches, trace the source of the letters, and try their best to keep me and my family safe.”