Barrister group asks court to overturn decision clearing democrat Margaret Ng of misconduct linked to 2019 protest conviction

Hong Kong’s professional body for barristers has asked a court to overturn its own disciplinary board’s decision clearing pro-democracy figure Margaret Ng of misconduct linked to her 2019 protest conviction. Margaret Ng leaves Hong Kong’s High Court surrounded by reporters on August 14, 2023. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. The Hong Kong Bar Association (HKBA) applied for a judicial review of the board’s decision at the High Court on Friday, local media reported. The legal challenge comes after the Barristers Disciplinary Tribunal decided in June that the complaint against Ng was unsubstantiated. The complaint was linked to Ng’s conviction five years ago for taking part in an unauthorised assembly during the protests and unrest in 2019. She was cleared in 2023 of organising the demonstration. Ng and six other activists pleaded not guilty to the offences that took place on August 18, 2019, when protesters and high-profile activists marched on the streets to denounce alleged police brutality. See also: In full: Hong Kong barrister Margaret Ng’s mitigation plea given before she was sentenced over a peaceful 2019 demo The activists were convicted in April 2021 after a trial. District Court in Wan Chai. File photo: HKFP. Ng, a former lawmaker who has already retired from the legal profession, was handed a year-long jail term suspended for two years. Suspended jail terms are not served unless the person convicted is found to have reoffended within a certain time frame. Some of the defendants, including Ng, appealed, but lost their legal challenge at the Court of Final Appeal in August 2024. ‘Integrity’ of system In the judicial review application, the HKBA said Ng’s conviction itself should have merited the establishment of the complaint. The association cited comments made by Amanda Woodcock, the judge who found Ng and the other activists guilty, saying that she had said the defendants flouted the law and deliberately challenged police authority. Ng took the law into her own hands to advance her political motives, further deepening societal divisions in Hong Kong, the association added. Margaret Ng outside the West Kowloon Law Courts Building on July 5, 2024. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. When a complaint against a barrister is deemed substantiated by the disciplinary tribunal, the barrister can be suspended or barred from practising for good. The HKBA said in an email to HKFP on Monday that as the “professional regulator of barristers and in furtherance of the public interest,” it must take steps “necessary to maintain the integrity of the regulatory system.” It added that it cannot comment on the specific case in question as legal procedures are ongoing. In the judicial review application, the HKBA noted that Ng, who is 78, already retired at the end of last year. But it said it was in the public interest that the court overturn the disciplinary board’s decision. The court should determine that the complaint against Ng is substantiated, or order the formation of a new disciplinary board to examine the complaint, the association said. Safeguard press freedom; keep HKFP free for all readers by supporting our team Support HKFP | Policies & Ethics | Error/typo? | Contact | Newsletter | Transparency & Annual Report | Apps Make a one-off donation. Hillary Leung is a journalist at Hong Kong Free Press, where she reports on local politics and social issues, and assists with editing. Since joining in late 2021, she has covered the Covid-19 pandemic, political court cases including the 47 democrats national security trial, and challenges faced by minority communities. Born and raised in Hong Kong, Hillary completed her undergraduate degree in journalism and sociology at the University of Hong Kong. She worked at TIME Magazine in 2019, where she wrote about Asia and overnight US news before turning her focus to the protests that began that summer. At Coconuts Hong Kong, she covered general news and wrote features, including about a Black Lives Matter march that drew controversy amid the local pro-democracy movement and two sisters who were born to a domestic worker and lived undocumented for 30 years in Hong Kong. More by Hillary Leung