The Hong Kong Excessive Court docket granted detained activist Chow Hang-tung go away on Tuesday to problem a jail coverage on the grounds of alleged intercourse discrimination. A date for the substantive judicial evaluate listening to has but to be scheduled.
In response to native media outlet The Witness, the problem focuses on the variations in gown code necessities for female and male prisoners. In her writ, Chow alleges that welfare officers denied her request to put on shorts or lighter clothes, citing that lengthy trousers are required for feminine prisoners as a result of “age modifications and delicate skins.”
Chow argues that this coverage violates Part 38 of theSex Discrimination Ordinance, which prohibits the federal government from discriminating in opposition to a girl within the efficiency of its features or the train of its powers. She contends that the differing gown codes for female and male prisoners, regardless of them dwelling in comparable situations, represent differential remedy.
Moreover, Chow equally claims that the coverage contravenes Article 25 of the Basic Law and Article 22 of the Hong Kong Bill of Rights, each of which assure equality earlier than the regulation. She added that sustaining self-discipline can’t be a reliable purpose of the coverage as a result of feminine prisoners are required to put on quick in night time time actions and bodily coaching periods.
Chow additional challenges the reasonableness of requiring feminine prisoners to put on trousers in scorching climate, highlighting that between 2021 and 2023, the Hong Kong Observatory recorded greater than 50 “highly regarded” days annually.
Because of this, Chow argues that the coverage breaches Guidelines 26 of the Prison Rules, which obliges the Correctional Companies Division to provide enough clothes for heat and well being. She asserts that forcing feminine prisoners to put on trousers negatively impacts their well being and is subsequently unconstitutional.
This isn’t the primary time the coverage has confronted scrutiny. Opposition activist Chung Suet-ying, who’s at the moment serving a sentence of over seven years for possessing firearms and bullets with no licence, additionally tried to challenge the shorts ban for feminine prisoners. Nonetheless, her problem was later withdrawn.
Chow Hang-tung stays in detention whereas awaiting trial for subversion in relation to her function within the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Help of Patriotic Democratic Actions of China. In a earlier case administration listening to, Justice Lee confirmed that the substantive listening to on this case is not going to happen this yr.
Chow has beforehand been convicted for failing to adjust to discover to supply data below Article 43 of the China-imposed National Security Law and its implementation rules. She was additionally convicted of inciting others to take part in an unauthorized meeting below part 17A(3)(a) of the Public Order Ordinance.
Source / Picture: jurist.org
