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course be passed to immigration officers via the Director of Immigration. If the instructions came from the Director on his own authority, however, his decision would be more easily susceptible to judicial review.
4.
In any similar situation in future, we would be able in effect to prevent a judicial review application from getting off the ground if the Governor were willing to have it stated that he was the source of the instruction. Whether he wishes to do this or not will no doubt depend on the political circumstances surrounding the particular case.
5.
The habeas corpus application was unsuccessful because the judge, by reasoning similar to that of the English Court of Appeal in R v Secretary of State for the Home Department Ex p. Muboyayi (25 June 1991), held that a person detained pending his removal from Hong Kong should challenge the decision refusing him entry by judicial review rather than by applying for a writ of habeas corpus.
6.
For
The likelihood is that in similar circumstances in future we would take a similar course of action although we would have to consider any individual situation carefully. instance, in August there was the prospect of a US Congress delegation led by Nancy Pelosi bringing with them a Chinese dissident, Shen Tong, someone to whom we would normally refuse entry. At that time we took the view that if he were to come as part of the Congressional delegation the political downside of refusing him entry (while of course letting the rest of the delegation in) would have been the greater of the two evils. In the event we were rescued by his deciding not to come.
Yours eva
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(S E Bradley)
Deputy Political Adviser
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