LORRAIN OSMAN CASE: NOTE PRODUCED BY THE HOME OFFICE
Osman's last
1. Immediately following the dismissal of his latest petition for leave to appeal by the House of Lords, and when there were then no extant habeas corpus proceedings he was able to be surrendered on 15 December 1992. It should also be noted that three of Osman's habeas corpus applications were dismissed by the High Court as an abuse of the process.
2.
In his judgement on 12 December 1990 in the fourth habeas corpus application Lord Justice Mann found no lack of diligence on the part of the prosecution. In his judgement of 14 November 1991, on the sixth habeas corpus application, Lord Justice Woolf said, '....the effect of these six applications has been that there can have been no question over the period those applications covered, of the Secretary of State being able to exercise his powers to return the applicant to Hong Kong....there is no doubt that it is deeply disturbing that after this period of time, after Mr Osman has been in custody in prison in this country for far too long, it should still be uncertain whether he is to be returned to Hong Kong. However, when you look at the history (....) it appears to me that this is a situation that Mr Osman has brought upon himself by his own actions, as the result of a deliberate course of conduct upon which he has embarked, designed to use the machinery of the Court and other Courts as a way of preventing his return to Hong Kong. It appears to me that this is a situation where he has embarked upon a war of attrition designed to wear down the Hong Kong Government, so as to prevent his return. I have no doubt whatsoever that when the present application is considered in the context of the previous applications, it is indeed an abuse of process of the Court. is using the machinery of the Court for purposes for which it should not be used.'
3.
It
In his judgement in the ninth habeas corpus application, on 20 November 1992, Lord Justice Kennedy said 'without there being exceptional circumstances, proceedings have been initiated after a warrant has been signed, and once again the object, it seems to us, is not so much to obtain an order to which Mr Osman is arguably entitled, but rather to filibuster as he has done apparently in this and in other jurisdictions time and time again.
4.
In December 1990 Osman is quoted in the (London) Times as saying 'I could carry on like this forever. I am prepared to remain a remand prisoner for 50 years if the alternative is going to Hong Kong to face a show trial.'
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