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In response to media enquiries about a ruling made by the Court of Appeal on July 18 (Friday), a Security Bureau spokesman said today (July 21) that the Government will continue to exercise the powers to detain persons pending removal, including torture claimants, in accordance with the relevant provisions in the Immigration Ordinance.
"We note that the Court of Appeal judgment does not rule that the Government has no power to detain a torture claimant pending his or her removal under the Immigration Ordinance," the spokesman said.
"Notwithstanding that the four applicants in the judicial review were released on recognizance more than a year ago, we take note of the Court of Appeal's ruling about the requirement of Article 5 of the Hong Kong Bill of Rights that detention must not be arbitrary and the grounds and procedures for detention must be sufficiently certain and accessible. We will study the judgment carefully and decide later whether to make an appeal," the spokesman said.
"In the meantime, the Immigration Department has implemented, with immediate effect, additional measures to ensure accessibility of the detention policy to the detainees as a group and individually. These include making known the detention policy through the posting of notices in the detention facilities, and explaining to individual detainees the reasons for their detention and the procedures for seeking recognizance. We believe these arrangements will help address the court's concern."
Ends/Monday, July 21, 2008
Issued at HKT 21:24
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