斯诺登逃亡香港期间的律师称自己被迫离港

香港——曾为逃到香港的美国国家安全局(National Security Agency，简称NSA)前承包商雇员爱德华·J·斯诺登(Edward J. Snowden)担任代理律师的人权律师说，来自地方当局、律师协会和法律援助组织的压力，让他无法继续在这个半自治的中国城市工作下去。

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.

这位律师是加拿大人罗伯特·提博(Robert Tibbo)，他已于去年离开了香港，目前住在法国。他把离开香港的消息保密了近一年，担心消息的透露会伤害他在香港的当事人，特别是那些曾在2013年为斯诺登提供过住宿的寻求庇护者们。

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.

斯诺登泄露了有关美国监听监视项目的机密信息，这些项目曾跟踪世界各地数亿的通讯往来，他因泄密在美国面临指控，包括两项根据《反间谍法》的指控。他目前在俄罗斯过着流亡生活。

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，斯诺登曾和在香港寻求庇护的人住在一起的消息传出来后，引起了国际社会对这些人在香港的地位的关注，这些人不能在香港工作，无资格得到永久居留权，他们获许在第三国重新安置的可能性极小。

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

现年54岁的提博说，他受惩罚是因为他引起了国际上对寻求庇护者所面临困境的关注。

“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.

“底线是，如果我没有帮助斯诺登和难民的话，我现在仍能在香港工作，”他说。

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

但是，他在香港的批评者把他描绘成一个寻求名声的人，他公开了那些寻求庇护者的身份，可能给他们带来了潜在的危险。

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.

提博透露自己已经离开的消息，是在香港今年10月驱逐了《金融时报》的一名编辑之后，那是香港首次对外国记者采取这种做法。虽然他们两人的情况完全不同，但这两件事都增加了人们日益增长的担忧，即香港在中国的独特地位正在遭到削弱。与中国其他地方相比，香港有着更为健全的政治和公民权利。

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.

与《金融时报》记者马凯(Victor Mallet)不同，提博是主动离开的。但是他说，那样做是因为担心自己被抓。

“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.” “我在香港的职业生涯已经结束，”他说。“我不愿意、也无法回去，除非我确信我的安全能得到保障，确信我不会被关起来。我想帮助我的当事人，但我不能从监狱里去帮助他们。”

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，一些寻求庇护者说，斯里兰卡警方曾来香港寻找为斯诺登提供过住宿的人，他们中的大多数来自斯里兰卡，那之后，提博的困难开始迅速增加。

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.

据提博和一位曾被拘留者说，香港警方拘留了几名被斯里兰卡警方询问的人，问他们有关斯诺登的问题。由于担心遭到当局报复，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.

香港警方还开始问关于提博的问题。他说，他担心警察打算指责他说服难民捏造或歪曲他们关于斯里兰卡警方的陈述。

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.”

香港警方表示他们进行过一次调查，但“结果表明没有证据支持刑事指控，也没有人被逮捕”。

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

提博还面临着匿名律师和香港入境事务处向香港大律师公会的投诉。

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.

两封署名“一群愤怒大律师”的信，指责提博通过向媒体提供为斯诺登提供住宿的寻求庇护者的个人信息，让他们被人拍照，危害了他们的安全，损害了他们寻求庇护的案子。

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.

信中还说，提博为一篇对他本人进行“可耻吹捧和偶像化描述”的报道提供材料，并批评他在莫斯科见斯诺登时让人们给他们拍照。

“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.

“我们的会员为寻求庇护者服务，不需要经过这种自我膨胀的过程，”大律师公会副主席彭耀鸿说。

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.

提博在给大律师公会的一份书面答复中说，他对大律师公会根据匿名投诉采取行动感到“震惊”，这意味着他不知道到底是谁对他提出异议。

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. 彭耀鸿对匿名的担忧不以为然。“这件事不是在于谁投诉他，而是在于他的行为，”他说。

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.

提博还说，他一直没有拿到他在香港的主要雇主所欠的报酬，那是两个为出不起钱的当事人安排法律代理的部门。

“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.

“他们突然同时停止支付他的账单，差不多让提博破产了，”无国界律师组织加拿大分部(Lawyers Without Borders Canada)执行主任帕斯卡·帕拉蒂斯(Pascal Paradis)说，该组织一直在帮助提博。

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.

提博说，他与香港法律援助署这家政府机构的问题始于2016年9月，他们在那之后提出向他支付他们以前给他报酬的一半。

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.

该机构拒绝回答问题，称需要有提博的书面许可。他曾为之工作的另一个机构是当值律师服务(The Duty Lawyer Service)，这是一家政府出资但独立运营管理的部门，它表示不讨论具体个案。

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，香港入境处曾寻求不再让提博担任他代理的许多案件的律师，包括七名帮助过斯诺登的寻求庇护者的案件，理由是提博在2016年和2017年两次请求延期。在那段时间里，大约30个曾经搁置的案子重新启动，导致了巨大的工作量，提博说，好像是意欲向他和他的当事人施压。

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

入境处说，那是因为简化了程序，以便清理由于近年来不断增多而积压下来的庇护案。

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

虽然提博的一些同事对他有抱怨，但他的当事人都把他描述为致力于维护他们利益的人。

“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.

“如果他是你的律师，你就有安全感，”瓦妮莎·梅·邦达丽安·罗戴尔(Vanessa Mae Bondalian Rodel)说，她是一位来自菲律宾的寻求庇护者，2013年曾为斯诺登提供住宿。

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.”

帕拉蒂斯说，提博所面临的这些问题汇集成“一个大问号，那就是这一切的理由是什么”。

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，所有七名与斯诺登有关的寻求庇护者的避难申请均遭拒。他们已经提出了上诉。

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.

香港政府发给寻求庇护者一小笔生活费，但自2016年起，停止发给与斯诺登有关的人。如今，这些人的几乎所有眼前需求都由“为了难民”(For the Refugees)组织承担，该组织的领导人马克-安德烈·塞甘(Marc-André Séguin)说，这个组织是为了帮助他们在加拿大申请庇护而成立的。

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.

如果香港在加拿大当局做决定前拒绝他们上诉的话，这些寻求庇护者可能会被送回他们的国家，他们在那里可能面临可怕的命运。阿吉特·普什帕库马拉(Ajith Pushpakumara)是其中一位，他说，他曾因从斯里兰卡军队开小差儿而遭受折磨，如果送回国的话，他可能面临死刑。

“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.”

“这是一个与时间的赛跑，”塞甘说。“如果他们的香港申请被拒绝、回到自己的国家的话，我们为他们获得加拿大签证做的所有工作就变得毫无意义了。这基本上是要把人拖死。”