Handling Snowden: Hong Kong Holds Fast to Rule of Law

Hong Kong’s government announced yesterday that Edward Snowden had left for a third country of his own accord through a lawful and proper channel and that the U.S. government had been informed of his departure. The local government remained ever faithful to the rule of law in handling Snowden’s case and acted according to the territory’s appropriate legal codes and mechanisms. A spirited commitment to the law throughout this episode grants victory to Hong Kong for its protection of human rights and rule of law, strengthening the international community’s confidence in the territory.

Quoting American officials, The Washington Post reported earlier that U.S. authorities had demanded that Hong Kong detain Snowden, pursuant to a U.S. court’s provisional arrest warrant to prepare for his extradition and trial back home. The local government’s press release also mentioned that the American government had previously asked the territory to issue a provisional arrest warrant. But documentation furnished by the U.S. government was not in full compliance with the requirements of local law, and it should be noted that Hong Kong observes no laws but its own. Hong Kong had asked the U.S. for more information so that the territory’s secretary of defense could determine whether the request met relevant legal requirements; however, without sufficient information to process the provisional warrant, Hong Kong’s government had no legal grounds for restricting Snowden from leaving the territory.

In dealing with Snowden’s case, Hong Kong stood by its commitment to rule of law free from U.S. pressure, thereby furthering the cause of human rights and law and order worldwide. Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honor and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.”*

Since Snowden blew the lid off U.S. global Internet surveillance, all of humanity can now see that America is a violator of human rights and privacy. Snowden said that he exposed PRISM because he could not in clear conscience allow for the global public’s privacy and Internet freedom to be encroached on by the U.S. government. He further explained that the reason he chose Hong Kong as the place to leak secrets and be interviewed himself was that it guaranteed protection of free speech and the rights of dissidents. Snowden’s choice of Hong Kong as his first port of call highlights the protection that the city, as a “bastion of the rule of law,” provides for free speech and dissent.

Even though Snowden left Hong Kong of his own accord through legal and proper means, the case is not quite over yet. America should explain itself — its hacking of mainland Chinese and local computers and its monitoring of global networks. The country should apologize for its terrible deeds and promise to never again hack into global computer networks, including those of Hong Kong.

* Translator’s Note: The author attributes this quote to Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The quote is actually found in Article 12.