Latest news with #JoseAntonioMaurellet
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong must be ‘very careful' before banning lawyers from meeting clients in jail
Hong Kong authorities should be 'very careful' before they resort to banning certain lawyers from meeting their clients in custody under revised prison rules, the head of the city's Bar Association has said. In an interview with the Post, senior counsel Jose-Antonio Maurellet added that some members of the professional body had also expressed concerns over the revised prison rules, which will tighten visiting criteria for specific lawyers. At the centre of contention is an amendment which allows correctional authorities to apply for a court warrant to ban a particular legal representative from meeting an inmate on the grounds that such connections may endanger national security, inflict bodily harm or pervert the course of justice. Similar provisions are applied to medical professionals and religious personnel. Maurellet expressed confidence that the court would serve in its gatekeeping role in issuing such warrants. But he questioned the argument made by authorities and some supporters of the amendment that a prisoner's right to legal advice and choice of lawyers would not be undermined by the rule changes, as the defendant could still consult other legal representatives. Maurellet warned that having to switch lawyers would not only be undesirable to a defendant going through protracted criminal proceedings, but could also be disruptive to the help the court was receiving. 'In serious cases, it's in the interest of everybody, both the prosecution and the defence, that not only is there a fair trial, but the matter moves on as expeditiously as possible,' he said. 'So we certainly hope and believe that the government will be very careful before such steps are taken.'
South China Morning Post
3 days ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong needs ‘targeted law' to tackle AI deepfake porn: Bar Association chief
Hong Kong should enact a 'targeted law' to tackle the problem of AI-generated deepfake pornography instead of relying on legal tools designed to catch other mischief, the head of the city's professional body for barristers has said. In an interview with the Post on Thursday, Senior Counsel Jose-Antonio Maurellet, chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association, also expressed confidence that such legislative efforts could be done 'very quickly' if the government had the will to tackle the issue. The legal gaps in regulating the non-consensual creation of images generated by artificial intelligence came under scrutiny last month after a University of Hong Kong (HKU) law student was found to have used AI to generate pornographic images of his classmates and other women, but received only a warning from the institution. Maurellet refrained from commenting directly on the case, but noted that while there was currently no particular legislation designed to penalise such actions, it would be undesirable to invoke existing legal tools tailored for other behaviours to deal with them. 'I think one should be very careful in not trying to use an instrument which was designed to catch another mischief for this purpose, because there could be all sorts of technical arguments advanced,' he said. For instance, the city's data privacy laws cover people who try to hurt someone by disseminating information about that person to a large audience, but are not designed to regulate individuals who distribute AI images within a relatively small group or who do not seek or intend to harm others, according to the barrister.
