 US lawyer convicted of assaulting Hong Kong police officer Hong Kong (AFP) June 22, 2021 - An American lawyer working in Hong Kong was convicted of assaulting a policeman on Tuesday when he intervened in a confrontation between the officer and members of the public during political unrest two years ago. Samuel Phillip Bickett, 37, a former compliance director at the Bank of America was remanded into custody after a magistrate found him guilty of assaulting Senior Constable Yu Shu-sang on December 7, 2019, local media reported. The confrontation in a subway station, part of which was recorded on video, occurred towards the end of the huge and often violent democracy protests that rocked Hong Kong that year. At the time, the city's 30,000 police officers were allowed to carry retractable batons during off-duty hours to protect them at a time when public anger towards the police had soared. The trial heard how Yu -- who was dressed in plainclothes -- withdrew his baton to try and stop a fare dodger. Yu said Bickett intervened in the scuffle, trying to snatch his baton. He also accused Bickett of dragging him onto the floor, kneeling on his chest and punching his face. Bickett's defence team said he was trying to stop Yu from attacking the man and thought the officer was using excessive force. They also said Bickett did not know Yu was an officer. Shortly before Bickett interfered, another commuter asked Yu to identify whether he was police with the phrase "Are you popo?" -- a slang term protesters used for police. Yu denied before saying yes. Magistrate Arthur Lam Hei-wei said he was not convinced Bickett did not know Yu was a police officer, saying Yu was heard indicating himself to be an officer in the video evidence. Lam said he found it "perfectly understandable" for Yu to refuse to answer the crowd as popo was a "disrespectful reference", the South China Morning News reported. Lam ruled that Bickett's sole intention was to snatch the baton from Yu and remanded him into custody ahead of his sentencing on July 6. In Hong Kong, assaulting a police officer is punishable by up to six months in jail and a fine. The South China Morning Post said Bickett issued a statement saying he disagreed with the convicton which he said was "entirely unsupportable by both the law and the evidence in this case". "I will appeal this verdict, and I will not rest until justice is done," the statement added.
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More than 40 countries led by Canada voiced grave concerns at the UN Human Rights Council Tuesday about China's actions in Xinjiang, Hong Kong and Tibet -- triggering a fierce backlash from Beijing.
The widely anticipated joint statement had been in the pipeline for several days and was delivered on day two of the 47th session of the council in Geneva.
"We are gravely concerned about the human rights situation in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region," Canada's ambassador Leslie Norton said.
The statement was backed by Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain and the United States, among others.
Beijing must allow UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet and other independent observers "immediate, meaningful and unfettered access" to Xinjiang, and end the "arbitrary detention" of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities, it said.
"Credible reports indicate that over a million people have been arbitrarily detained in Xinjiang and that there is widespread surveillance disproportionately targeting Uyghurs and members of other minorities and restrictions on fundamental freedoms and Uyghur culture," it said.
The statement cited reports of torture or cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment or punishment, forced sterilisation, sexual and gender-based violence, and forced separation of children from their parents.
The number of signatories is an increase from the 22 ambassadors who wrote to Bachelet in 2019 condemning China's treatment of the Uyghurs.
China denies mistreating the Uyghurs, once a clear majority in their ancestral homeland until the state helped waves of ethnic Han Chinese migrate there. Beijing insists it is simply running vocational training centres designed to counter extremism.
Bachelet told the council on Monday she hoped at last to visit Xinjiang this year and be given "meaningful access".
Tuesday's statement was bound to further enrage Beijing, which decries what it says is the interference by foreign powers in its internal affairs.
The joint declaration also expressed concern over the deterioration of fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong and the human rights situation in Tibet.
The move came after US President Joe Biden's first foreign trip, in which he garnered G7 and NATO unity in pushing back against Beijing, with Washington identifying China as the pre-eminent global challenge.
The statement "sends a crucial message to China's authorities that they are not above international scrutiny", said Agnes Callamard, head of the rights group Amnesty International.
But countries "must now move beyond handwringing and take real action", she added.
- China's counter-attack -
Aware that the statement was coming, China had responded before it was even delivered.
Beijing's representative read out a statement on behalf of a group of countries "deeply concerned about serious human rights violations against the indigenous people in Canada".
Belarus, Iran, North Korea, Russia, Sri Lanka, Syria and Venezuela were among the co-signatories, according to the United Nations.
"Historically, Canada robbed the indigenous people of their land, killed them, and eradicated their culture," the statement said.
It referenced the recent discovery of 215 unmarked graves at a former residential school in western Canada -- one of many boarding schools set up a century ago to forcibly assimilate Canada's indigenous peoples.
"We call for a thorough and impartial investigation into all cases where crimes were committed against the indigenous people, especially children," the statement said.
The representative of Belarus read another joint statement on behalf of 64 countries, supporting China and stressing that Hong Kong, Xinjiang and Tibet were Chinese internal affairs.
In Ottawa, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Canada had acknowledged and was seeking to make amends for wronging its indigenous peoples.
"In Canada, we had a truth and reconciliation commission," he told journalists. "Where is China's truth and reconciliation commission. Where is their truth?
"The journey of reconciliation is a long one, but it is a journey we are on," he said. "China is not recognizing even that there is a problem.
"That is a pretty fundamental difference and that is why Canadians and people from around the world are speaking up for people like the Uyghurs who find themselves voiceless, faced with a government that will not recognize what's happening to them."
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