Security chief hints SAR won't hand over Lam
Top News | Phoenix Un and Joey Hung 21 Jun 2016Secretary for Security Lai Tung-kwok insisted the government will not hand over bookseller Lam Wing-kee or data from the Causeway Bay Books to mainland authorities stressing that Hong Kong laws prohibit them from doing so.
"Hong Kong police and mainland authorities have a cooperation mechanism, Lai said. "When they make certain requests, Hong Kong police will follow up under Hong Kong law. To put it in other words, Hong Kong will follow local laws when doing investigations. What's allowed by law, we will do it according to law. What's prohibited by law, we won't do it."
Lam has said his interrogators wanted to find out the identities of the authors of the books as well as where information came from and a list of readers. Lai tried to calm the fears and concerns of Hongkongers over whether Lam would be extradited to China by Hong Kong police.
A police officer from Ningbo Municipal Public Security Bureau told a reporter from The Standard's sister publication Sing Tao Daily that Lam - arrested in Shenzhen on October 24 last year and under detention in Ningbo - was allowed to return to Hong Kong to handle personal affairs.
However, the bureau will seek to start a mechanism to work with Hong Kong police "under Lam's current situation," according to Sing Tao.
The Global Times published an editorial entitled "Enough Media Hype about the Causeway Bay Bookstore Incident" and an article related to the incident. Both quoted Zhi Zhenfeng, an associate research fellow of the Institute of Law of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, who said that Lam, who was on bail, should report his whereabouts and get approval from the Public Security Bureau.
"The law does not forbid him to hold press conferences. However, if he leaked any information related to the investigation, the bureau could bring out a working mechanism with Hong Kong police to 'handle' him."
Albert Ho, the legislator providing assistance to Lam, said Hong Kong authorities cannot hand Lam to the mainland under the current legal system.
