斯諾登逃亡香港期間的律師稱自己被迫離港

香港——曾為逃到香港的美國國家安全局(National Security Agency，簡稱NSA)前承包商雇員愛德華·J·斯諾登(Edward J. Snowden)擔(dān)任代理律師的人權(quán)律師說，來自地方當(dāng)局、律師協(xié)會和法律援助組織的壓力，讓他無法繼續(xù)在這個半自治的中國城市工作下去。

The lawyer, Robert Tibbo, is a Canadian national who left Hong Kong last year and is currently living in France. He did not disclose his move for nearly a year, fearing it would harm the cases of his clients in Hong Kong, particularly asylum seekers who sheltered Mr. Snowden during his 2013 stay.

這位律師是加拿大人羅伯特·提博(Robert Tibbo)，他已于去年離開了香港，目前住在法國。他把離開香港的消息保密了近一年，擔(dān)心消息的透露會傷害他在香港的當(dāng)事人，特別是那些曾在2013年為斯諾登提供過住宿的尋求庇護(hù)者們。

Mr. Snowden, who leaked top-secret information on United States surveillance programs that had monitored the communications of hundreds of millions around the world, faces charges in the United States, including two counts under the Espionage Act. He now lives in exile in Russia.

斯諾登泄露了有關(guān)美國監(jiān)聽監(jiān)視項目的機(jī)密信息，這些項目曾跟蹤世界各地數(shù)億的通訊往來，他因泄密在美國面臨指控，包括兩項根據(jù)《反間諜法》的指控。他目前在俄羅斯過著流亡生活。

The revelation in September 2016 that Mr. Snowden had stayed with asylum seekers brought international attention to the status of such people in Hong Kong, where they are unable to work, are ineligible for permanent residency and face minuscule odds of being approved for resettlement in a third country.

2016年9月，斯諾登曾和在香港尋求庇護(hù)的人住在一起的消息傳出來后，引起了國際社會對這些人在香港的地位的關(guān)注，這些人不能在香港工作，無資格得到永久居留權(quán)，他們獲許在第三國重新安置的可能性極小。

Mr. Tibbo, 54, says he is being punished for bringing international attention to the difficult circumstances asylum seekers face.

現(xiàn)年54歲的提博說，他受懲罰是因?yàn)樗鹆藝H上對尋求庇護(hù)者所面臨困境的關(guān)注。

“The bottom line is if I hadn’t helped Mr. Snowden and the refugees, I’d be working in Hong Kong right now,” he said.

“底線是，如果我沒有幫助斯諾登和難民的話，我現(xiàn)在仍能在香港工作，”他說。

But his critics in Hong Kong portray him as a fame seeker who potentially endangered the asylum seekers by publicizing their identities.

但是，他在香港的批評者把他描繪成一個尋求名聲的人，他公開了那些尋求庇護(hù)者的身份，可能給他們帶來了潛在的危險。

Mr. Tibbo’s disclosure that he has left follows Hong Kong’s expulsion of an editor for the Financial Times in October, the first such move against a foreign journalist in the city. While the cases are very different, they both add to growing concerns about the decline of Hong Kong’s singular status in China as a place where political and civil rights are far more robust than in the rest of the country.

提博透露自己已經(jīng)離開的消息，是在香港今年10月驅(qū)逐了《金融時報》的一名編輯之后，那是香港首次對外國記者采取這種做法。雖然他們兩人的情況完全不同，但這兩件事都增加了人們?nèi)找嬖鲩L的擔(dān)憂，即香港在中國的獨(dú)特地位正在遭到削弱。與中國其他地方相比，香港有著更為健全的政治和公民權(quán)利。

Unlike Victor Mallet, the Financial Times journalist, Mr. Tibbo left on his own accord. But he says that he did so because he feared arrest.

與《金融時報》記者馬凱(Victor Mallet)不同，提博是主動離開的。但是他說，那樣做是因?yàn)閾?dān)心自己被抓。

“My career is over in Hong Kong,” he said. “I’m unwilling and unable to come back unless I’m sure I will be safe and not get locked up. I want to help my clients, but I can’t do that from jail.” “我在香港的職業(yè)生涯已經(jīng)結(jié)束，”他說。“我不愿意、也無法回去，除非我確信我的安全能得到保障，確信我不會被關(guān)起來。我想幫助我的當(dāng)事人，但我不能從監(jiān)獄里去幫助他們。”

Mr. Tibbo’s problems mushroomed in late 2016 after some asylum seekers said the Sri Lankan police had come to the city to search for people who had put up Mr. Snowden, most of whom were from Sri Lanka.

2016年底，一些尋求庇護(hù)者說，斯里蘭卡警方曾來香港尋找為斯諾登提供過住宿的人，他們中的大多數(shù)來自斯里蘭卡，那之后，提博的困難開始迅速增加。

The Hong Kong police detained several of the same people the Sri Lankan police had questioned, asking them about Mr. Snowden, according to Mr. Tibbo and one of the detainees, who asked not to be identified out of fear of retaliation by the authorities.

據(jù)提博和一位曾被拘留者說，香港警方拘留了幾名被斯里蘭卡警方詢問的人，問他們有關(guān)斯諾登的問題。由于擔(dān)心遭到當(dāng)局報復(fù)，此人要求不具名。

They also began asking questions about Mr. Tibbo. He said he feared the police were planning to accuse him of persuading the refugees to concoct or distort their statements about the Sri Lankan officers.

香港警方還開始問關(guān)于提博的問題。他說，他擔(dān)心警察打算指責(zé)他說服難民捏造或歪曲他們關(guān)于斯里蘭卡警方的陳述。

The Hong Kong police said they had conducted an investigation, but “the results suggested no evidence supporting any criminal offense and no arrest was made.”

香港警方表示他們進(jìn)行過一次調(diào)查，但“結(jié)果表明沒有證據(jù)支持刑事指控，也沒有人被逮捕”。

Mr. Tibbo also faces complaints to the Hong Kong Bar Association from anonymous lawyers and the Hong Kong Immigration Department.

提博還面臨著匿名律師和香港入境事務(wù)處向香港大律師公會的投訴。

Two letters signed “Large Group of Exasperated Barristers” accuse Mr. Tibbo of endangering the asylum seekers who sheltered Mr. Snowden and undermining their cases by providing their personal information to news outlets and allowing them to be photographed.

兩封署名“一群憤怒大律師”的信，指責(zé)提博通過向媒體提供為斯諾登提供住宿的尋求庇護(hù)者的個人信息，讓他們被人拍照，危害了他們的安全，損害了他們尋求庇護(hù)的案子。

The letters also say he contributed to a news story’s “disgraceful touting and hagiography” of himself and criticize him for being photographed with and visiting Mr. Snowden in Moscow.

信中還說，提博為一篇對他本人進(jìn)行“可恥吹捧和偶像化描述”的報道提供材料，并批評他在莫斯科見斯諾登時讓人們給他們拍照。

“Our members serve asylum seekers without going through this process of self-aggrandizement,” said Robert Pang, a vice chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association.

“我們的會員為尋求庇護(hù)者服務(wù)，不需要經(jīng)過這種自我膨脹的過程，”大律師公會副主席彭耀鴻說。

Mr. Tibbo said in a written reply to the Bar Association that he was “appalled” it was proceeding on the basis of anonymous complaints, which meant he did not know who exactly was taking issue with him.

提博在給大律師公會的一份書面答復(fù)中說，他對大律師公會根據(jù)匿名投訴采取行動感到“震驚”，這意味著他不知道到底是誰對他提出異議。

Mr. Pang dismissed concerns about the lack of names. “The matter is not about who complains against him, it’s about his actions,” he said. 彭耀鴻對匿名的擔(dān)憂不以為然。“這件事不是在于誰投訴他，而是在于他的行為，”他說。

Mr. Tibbo also says he has not been getting paid what he is owed by his primary Hong Kong employers, two bodies that arrange legal representation for clients who cannot afford it.

提博還說，他一直沒有拿到他在香港的主要雇主所欠的報酬，那是兩個為出不起錢的當(dāng)事人安排法律代理的部門。

“Suddenly at the same time they stop paying his bills and they basically have bankrupted Mr. Tibbo,” said Pascal Paradis, executive director of Lawyers Without Borders Canada, a group that has been helping Mr. Tibbo.

“他們突然同時停止支付他的賬單，差不多讓提博破產(chǎn)了，”無國界律師組織加拿大分部(Lawyers Without Borders Canada)執(zhí)行主任帕斯卡·帕拉蒂斯(Pascal Paradis)說，該組織一直在幫助提博。

Mr. Tibbo says his problems with the Legal Aid Department, a government body in Hong Kong, began in September 2016, and that they have since offered to pay him half of what they did before.

提博說，他與香港法律援助署這家政府機(jī)構(gòu)的問題始于2016年9月，他們在那之后提出向他支付他們以前給他報酬的一半。

The department declined to respond to questions, saying it needed Mr. Tibbo’s written permission to do so. The other body he worked for, the Duty Lawyer Service, which is publicly funded but has independent operational management, said it would not discuss individual cases.

該機(jī)構(gòu)拒絕回答問題，稱需要有提博的書面許可。他曾為之工作的另一個機(jī)構(gòu)是當(dāng)值律師服務(wù)(The Duty Lawyer Service)，這是一家政府出資但獨(dú)立運(yùn)營管理的部門，它表示不討論具體個案。

In addition, Hong Kong’s immigration department sought to have Mr. Tibbo removed from many of his cases, including those of the seven Snowden asylum seekers, citing his requests for extensions in 2016 and 2017. During that period, about 30 cases that had been dormant were reactivated, creating a huge workload that Mr. Tibbo said seemed designed to put pressure on him and his clients.

此外，香港入境處曾尋求不再讓提博擔(dān)任他代理的許多案件的律師，包括七名幫助過斯諾登的尋求庇護(hù)者的案件，理由是提博在2016年和2017年兩次請求延期。在那段時間里，大約30個曾經(jīng)擱置的案子重新啟動，導(dǎo)致了巨大的工作量，提博說，好像是意欲向他和他的當(dāng)事人施壓。

The immigration department said it had streamlined procedures to clear out a backlog of asylum cases that had swelled in recent years.

入境處說，那是因?yàn)楹喕顺绦?，以便清理由于近年來不斷增多而積壓下來的庇護(hù)案。

Despite the complaints from some of Mr. Tibbo’s colleagues, his clients describe him as a dedicated advocate for their interests.

雖然提博的一些同事對他有抱怨，但他的當(dāng)事人都把他描述為致力于維護(hù)他們利益的人。

“If he is your lawyer, you feel safety,” said Vanessa Mae Bondalian Rodel, an asylum seeker from the Philippines who took in Mr. Snowden in 2013.

“如果他是你的律師，你就有安全感，”瓦妮莎·梅·邦達(dá)麗安·羅戴爾(Vanessa Mae Bondalian Rodel)說，她是一位來自菲律賓的尋求庇護(hù)者，2013年曾為斯諾登提供住宿。

Mr. Paradis said the confluence of problems that Mr. Tibbo faces “are indicative of a big question mark about what is the rationale for all of this.”

帕拉蒂斯說，提博所面臨的這些問題匯集成“一個大問號，那就是這一切的理由是什么”。

In March 2017 the claims of all seven of the asylum seekers connected to Mr. Snowden were rejected. They have appealed.

2017年3月，所有七名與斯諾登有關(guān)的尋求庇護(hù)者的避難申請均遭拒。他們已經(jīng)提出了上訴。

The Hong Kong government gives a small stipend to asylum seekers, but since 2016 that has been cut for the Snowden group. Now almost all their immediate needs are covered by For the Refugees, an organization set up to apply for asylum for them in Canada, said Marc-André Séguin, the group’s president.

香港政府發(fā)給尋求庇護(hù)者一小筆生活費(fèi)，但自2016年起，停止發(fā)給與斯諾登有關(guān)的人。如今，這些人的幾乎所有眼前需求都由“為了難民”(For the Refugees)組織承擔(dān)，該組織的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人馬克-安德烈·塞甘(Marc-André Séguin)說，這個組織是為了幫助他們在加拿大申請庇護(hù)而成立的。

If Hong Kong rejects their appeal before the Canadian authorities rule, the asylum seekers could be sent to their home countries, where they could face dire fates. One of them, Ajith Pushpakumara, said he was tortured for deserting the military in Sri Lanka and could face the death penalty if he returns.

如果香港在加拿大當(dāng)局做決定前拒絕他們上訴的話，這些尋求庇護(hù)者可能會被送回他們的國家，他們在那里可能面臨可怕的命運(yùn)。阿吉特·普什帕庫馬拉(Ajith Pushpakumara)是其中一位，他說，他曾因從斯里蘭卡軍隊開小差兒而遭受折磨，如果送回國的話，他可能面臨死刑。

“It’s a race against the clock,” Mr. Séguin said. “If their Hong Kong application is rejected and they return to their home countries, all the work we’ve done for a visa to Canada becomes moot. It’s essentially death by delay.”

“這是一個與時間的賽跑，”塞甘說。“如果他們的香港申請被拒絕、回到自己的國家的話，我們?yōu)樗麄儷@得加拿大簽證做的所有工作就變得毫無意義了。這基本上是要把人拖死。”