[JURIST] Hong Kong’s high court on Tuesday prohibited two newly-elected lawmakers from taking their seats in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council [official website] following their recent refusal to declare allegiance to China. Upon taking their oaths last month, Baggio Leung and Yau Wai-Ching declared allegiance [JURIST report] instead to the “Hong Kong nation” and began protesting against China for pro-democracy rights. Judge Thomas Au Hing-cheung ruled [Guardian report] that their “willful and deliberate attempt” to insult China and promote Hong Kong’s independence invalidated their oaths. Their collaborative actions were found in violation of Hong Kong’s newly modified Basic Law [materials], which requires all of those taking office to “sincerely and solemnly” declare allegiance to China. Yau and Leung referred to the ruling as evidence that Hong Kong’s elections are meaningless and may be overturned by the government at will. The two lawmakers strongly expressed their intention to appeal the matter.

China’s human rights record has garnered international attention for the government’s treatment of the growing civil rights movement [JURIST op-ed] in the country, led by a number of prominent rights activists and lawyers. Last week more than 1,000 Hong Kong lawyers dressed in black marched [JURIST report] through the city in silence in opposition of the National People’s Congress’s decision to bar Yau and Leung from office. A Hong Kong court in August sentenced three leaders of the 2014 pro-democracy protests [JURIST report] who were convicted on charges related to their occupation of a government building. In January Chinese authorities brought charges [JURIST report] against seven lawyers from the Beijing Fengrui Law Firm related to events that have allegedly disrupted the public order, including a police shooting. In December prominent Chinese human rights lawyer Pu Zhiqiang was released [JURIST report] after receiving a suspended sentence. Pu was detained in 2014 on a charge of “causing a disturbance” after he attended a weekend meeting that urged an investigation into the 1989 crackdown of pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square and was subsequently denied bail.