Wanted pro-democracy figure Ted Hui now an Adelaide barrister

Pro-democracy figure Ted Hui is a wanted man in Hong Kong – but he has been welcomed with open arms by Adelaide’s legal fraternity.

Ted Hui is one of Hong Kong’s most wanted fugitives – but he is also one of Adelaide’s newest barristers.

The pro-democracy figure might have seven outstanding arrest warrants and a bounty on his head courtesy of the Chinese Communist Party, but he has just been given a resounding endorsement by SA’s Supreme Court and the Law Society.

In what is likely to be an Australian record, his multiple convictions for offences ranging from contempt of court, common assault and breaching bail conditions – related to his protests and activism in Hong Kong – make him the most convicted individual ever to be admitted to the bar.

While safe from arrest in South Australia, Mr Hui, 41, said he was “still a wanted man’’ in Hong Kong.

Ted Hui, a pro-democracy legislator, is arrested during a protest in the Causeway Bay district of Hong Kong, China, on Friday, June 12, 2020. Photographer: Justin Chin/Bloomberg via Getty Images

“They regard some of the charges, such as subverting state power and secession as serious,’’ he said.

The former politician’s major conviction – in his absence – came in 2022 when he was sentenced to three-and-a-half years jail over charges relating to a 2019 street protest.

While Mr Hui has been in exile in Australia since March 2021, it appears the CCP has not forgotten about him. In February this year his lawyer was sent an official letter by the Hong Kong police force advising him that multiple arrest warrants were still active and requesting that he “return to Hong Kong and surrender to any police station.’’

Mr Hui said he suspected the CCP was still monitoring him in Adelaide, but he did not believe it could influence his new life in any way.

“I feel safe here, I have not noticed anyone following me so far, but I assume the CCP and the Chinese consulate here would be constantly watching me using social media and my public presence,’’ he said.

Ted Hui – Hong Kong Police Force letter Picture: Supplied

The suspension in 2019 of the extradition treaty between Australia and Hong Kong meant there was no risk of him being detained in Adelaide, despite the active warrants.

“And under the extradition law it stipulates that political charges do not count, the threshold is very high, even with that in place I don’t think I would be extradited,’’ he said.

After fleeing Hong Kong Mr Hui, his wife and two children first went to Denmark and then London. They spent three months there before moving to Adelaide – a decision made for several reasons.

They included a proliferance of pro-democracy advocates already in the United Kingdom campaigning against the CCP and the fact Mr Hui’s parents and sister, an academic, were already living in Adelaide.

Exiled Hong Kong politician Ted Hui in Victoria Square, SA. Picture: Emma Brasier

Ted Hui Foreign Minister Penny Wong in January at the Australian government offices in Adelaide. On Monday, the Hong Kong police announced they two have been accused of "collusion". Picture – Supplied

“I could not go home clearly, so I thought it would be best to be here with my family’’ he said.

After arriving in Adelaide his activities were initially restricted because he was only on a visitors visa, but he spent that time advocating against the CCP and liaising with MP’s – including Foreign Minister Penny Wong – and business figures over the issues in Hong Kong.

While now settled in Adelaide and practising civil and commercial law with a local firm, he said he wanted to return to Hong Kong to live “one day.’’

“It is home, I didn’t expect I would be living overseas in exile at all, it is not how I imagined it when I entered politics,’’ he said.

Mr Hui said he was “very grateful’’ to the legal profession for admitting him to the bar in what had been a “thorough process of disclosure and discussion.’’

“My long term interest is to practice law in the human rights and international law so I can do things for Hong Kong with more power,’’ he said.

Pan-Democrat Lawmaker Ted Hui inside the West Kowloon Magistrates Court after he was granted bail in Hong Kong, China. Photo by Vernon Yuen/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Law Society of SA president James Marsh said any applicant for admission to legal practice must satisfy the Supreme Court that they are a fit and proper person to practise and was subject to a high standard of disclosure.

“The fact that an applicant for admission discloses that they have been investigated for or arrested for or charged with or convicted of a criminal offence, whether in Australia or overseas, does not automatically mean the applicant is not a fit and proper person,’’ he said.

He said Mr Hui’s journey to legal practice in South Australia has been “unconventional compared to many local lawyers’’ but the Law Society was confident the “Court will have satisfied itself in the usual way’’ before admitting him to practice.