A Hong Kong man under a post-prison supervision order after being convicted of 2019 protest offences has filed a legal challenge against authorities for barring him from leaving the city to study abroad.
To Kai-wa on Wednesday filed an application for a judicial review at the High Court against the Correctional Services Department’s (CSD) decision, which blocked him from leaving Hong Kong during his post-release supervision, according to local media reports.
Judicial reviews are considered by the Court of First Instance and examine the decision-making processes of administrative bodies. Issues under review must be shown to affect the wider public interest.
To, who was jailed for five and a half years in 2021 for biting off part of a police officer’s finger during a protest, was released from prison on October 25, 2024. But he remained under the CSD’s supervision order, which is effective until August 26, 2026.
He applied in January this year to the CSD’s Supervision Case Review Committee to leave for the UK after receiving a conditional offer to study law at the University of Birmingham.
But the committee rejected To’s application in April and later rejected his appeal. According to To’s court filing, the CSD’s committee said To did not “demonstrate sincere remorse and reflection” and had not undergone “full rehabilitation and deradicalisation.”
The committee also said that since To holds a British National (Overseas) (BNO) passport, he could apply for British citizenship during his studies there and abscond from the supervision of Hong Kong authorities.
The committee said the British government had interviewed a person who was wanted for endangering national security and breaching a supervision order, an apparent reference to pro-independence activist Tony Chung, who fled to the UK in December 2023 while he was under post-release supervision.
Chung, formerly the convenor of the now-disbanded pro-independence group, was sentenced to three years and seven months in jail in 2021 after pleading guilty to inciting subversion and money laundering. He is among 19 overseas activists wanted by Hong Kong police for alleged national security offences.
The committee said it believed that the British authorities would not extradite To back to Hong Kong in the case of him breaching his supervision order. It said To could remain in Hong Kong to study instead of going abroad.
In his court filing, To’s lawyers said the committee’s decision had excessively restricted To’s freedom of movement protected under the law.
They argued that studying law abroad would improve To’s understanding of the rule of law, and therefore would contribute towards the protection of national security and his rehabilitation.
To was not admitted into law programmes in the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the University of Hong Kong, whereas the City University of Hong Kong had yet to inform him of his application results, his lawyers said.
That means To may not be able to study law if he has to stay in Hong Kong, they added.
The lawyers also argued that To’s BNO status and the case of a breach of supervision order by another person were irrelevant considerations for the CSD in To’s case.
They asked the court to handle the application before August 22 so that To could confirm his enrolment at the university before September 4.
