Saturday, January 15, 2000
Victory on legal aid for
abode claimants
CLIFF BUDDLE
A government U-turn paved the way yesterday for public funding to be
provided for the latest legal challenge over the right of abode
brought by more than 5,000 migrants.
The deal was secured by their lawyers, who have been working free
of charge for months, after last-minute negotiations with legal aid
officials at the High Court.
Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee, for the migrants, told the High Court
Registrar: "The arrangement is that legal aid will be granted. We
are very anxious that the court knows that legal aid will be
granted."
She said their cases should be combined so that "all who have a
claim will be represented".
The Legal Aid Department had previously turned down about 3,000
applications, with thousands more being processed. But before the
second day of an appeal hearing before registrar Christopher Chan
Cheuk yesterday, the deal was struck.
Under the deal, all appeals against refusals were put on hold
pending the outcome of the migrants' court application for a full
judicial review.
The decision will finally relieve the strain on lawyers who have
spent more than six months preparing the mammoth case without
funding.
Solicitor Pam Baker, for 5,473 migrants, said it would also
create a more level-playing field when the landmark battle with the
Government goes to court.
"I find it very hard to believe that over these six months they
didn't look at it properly and say 'of course, this is important',"
she said.
She suggested the department may, for political reasons, have
delayed granting legal aid until left with little choice.
Deputy Director of Legal Aid Benjamin Cheung Kin-man later said
the change of heart was due to powerful submissions put forward by
Ms Ng, representing 1,736 of the migrants, at the legal aid appeal
on Thursday.
"Ms Ng has now put forward new grounds which we accept to be
valid grounds for the granting of legal aid," he said.
"We recognise the force of Ms Ng's arguments. We recognise there
is a case to go forward."
But Mr Cheung denied there had been a U-turn. He said the refusal
to grant legal aid had been based on the migrants' original
arguments, rendered invalid by the Court of Final Appeal's abode
ruling in December.
During the appeal, Ms Ng said the Director had been fully aware
that the focus of the case had changed and knew the arguments she
would be putting before the court.
There will be a preliminary hearing at the Court of First
Instance next week and a judge will decide whether the case is
strong enough to continue to a full battle.
The migrants claim they were given right of abode in a Court of
Final Appeal ruling last January and that they should be exempted
from the National People's Congress Standing Committee's
reinterpretation of abode laws in June, which overturned that
judgment.
Ms Ng said the migrants were not troublemakers or queue-jumpers
but had been "borne along helplessly by events".
Solicitor Peter Barnes, for 40 migrants, said: "One wonders what
would have happened had not Ms Ng given her time freely to argue
these matters and put her matters so well and so persuasively." |