Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the Sino-British Joint Declaration, what assessment he has made of the charges which have been brought against Benny Tai, Dr Chan Kin-min, Reverend Chu Yiu-ming and eight other leaders of the Occupy Movement.

The Foreign Secretary confirmed in the foreword to the most recent Six Monthly Report to Parliament: "The rule of law and independence of the judiciary is the foundation on which Hong Kong's success and prosperity is built. This reporting period has seen a large number of cases related to the political system come before Hong Kong's courts, including the disqualification of a further four legislators. The judiciary in Hong Kong remains in high esteem. It will be vital that the Hong Kong SAR Government is seen to use the system of justice fairly in all cases".

We shall not comment on ongoing specific, legal proceedings, which are a matter for the Hong Kong Courts.

However, we raised our concerns about the timing of a number of arrests of pro-democracy Occupy Movement activists with the Hong Kong Department of Justice in April 2017, and issued a statement in August 2017 following the sentencing of student pro-democracy activists.