Lord Neuberger has resigned from his role as chair of a panel of experts on media freedom amid mounting controversy over his continued participation as a judge in Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal (CFA).

In a statement, Neuberger said he had decided to step down from the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom because “it is undesirable that focus on my position as a non-permanent judge in Hong Kong should take away, or distract, from the critical and impactful work of the High Level Panel”.

Pressure on the former UK Supreme Court president to quit the CFA mounted on Monday when the court upheld the convictions of former media mogul Jimmy Lai and six other pro-democracy campaigners for an unauthorised assembly in 2019.

Neuberger was one of five judges who heard the case and continues to resist calls to resign from his CFA role, having previously cited his wish to use the position to help support the rule of law in Hong Kong.

Today, the director of the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, Baroness Helena Kennedy KC, who sits on the High Level Panel, added to the pressure on Neuberger to stand down as a Hong Kong judge by publicly condemning the CFA’s Monday decision.

“My view is that the law in Hong Kong is being weaponised and used against the pro-democracy movement,” she said in a statement. “I do not think UK judges should sit on the court, and nor should UK lawyers participate in prosecuting cases, and I have made that view very clear.”

She said the IBAHRI regarded Neuberger as a “person of the highest integrity” who was “acting out of the best of intentions” in his efforts to support Hong Kong’s judges in protecting the rule of law.

However, she added: “Personally, I think that line in the sand was passed some time ago and IBAHRI has taken the stance that lawyers and judges should take no part in cases in Hong Kong given the assault on the rule of law.”

Neuberger is one of the few overseas non-permanent judges left sitting on CFA, following the resignations of Lord Sumption and Lord Collins of Mapesbury earlier this year and the subsequent retirement of Canadian counterpart Beverley McLachlan. 

The two serving UK judges with seats on the CFA – Lords Reed and Hodge – resigned their positions in 2022 citing the Hong Kong administration’s departure from ‘values of political freedom and freedom of expression’ following the imposition of the national security law in 2020.