MANILA, Philippines — A Hong Kong legislator has slammed the decision of immigration personnel to bar former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales from entering China’s special administrative region and called the move “barbaric” and “unreasonable.”

“Looks like political reasons rather than security reasons were considered. Under the one country, two systems policy, the Hong Kong government has no legal basis to consider the court case that has nothing to do with Hong Kong,” legislator Ted Hui Chi-Fung said in a statement on Tuesday.

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Hui was referring to the policy governing Hong Kong under which China agreed that the region can have a high degree of autonomy to preserve its economic and social systems.

Morales, who was with her family, was denied entry in Hong Kong for supposedly being a security threat.

She was later allowed to enter Hong Kong, but decided to fly back to Manila with her family.

Morales and former foreign affairs secretary Albert del Rosario earlier filed a complaint against Chinese President Xi Jinping and other Chinese officials before the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity over China’s actions in contested parts of the West Philippine Sea.

READ: Morales suffers 4-hour ordeal in Hong Kong

Hui, of the Democratic Party, said that even if the court case was against China, it is for the court to make the judgement and not immigration officials.

“Deportation based on a court case is plain barbaric,” he said.

Hui said the incident again showed that Beijing has exercised control over Hong Kong’s immigration which is clearly against the Rule of Law and the Hong Kong Basic Law.

“This incident harms Hong Kong’s declining international reputation. I urge the government to explain this case openly” he said. (Editor: Gilbert S. Gaviola)

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