Hong Kong Court Dismisses Father's Bid to Regain Custody of Home-Born Infant

A Hong Kong High Court judge has dismissed a legal application by a father seeking to regain custody of his infant son, Danny, from government welfare authorities. High Court Judge Queeny Au-Yeung ruled on Wednesday that the application for a writ of habeas corpus filed by Tsang Wai-bong was entirely inappropriate and lacked merit. The judge stated that the child was not under detention because he had been committed to the care of a government appointed organization through a child protection order.

Danny was placed under the supervision of the Social Welfare Department in June after the Juvenile Court issued a three year protection order. This followed the arrest of Tsang and his partner, Kwan Pui-sin, on suspicion of child neglect. The couple is part of the free birth movement, which advocates for giving birth without registered medical professionals. Authorities noted that Danny had not been registered or received medical check ups since his birth at home.

Tsang argued that his son had suffered arbitrary detention and torture, claiming that welfare authorities could not prove the baby was at risk. However, the judge wrote that the father fixates on his own way of raising his child without regard to the risks involved. Despite this, the judge declined the Department of Justice's request to order Tsang to pay legal costs.

Tsang stated he will now apply to the magistrates' courts to discharge the child protection order, with the next hearing scheduled for August 28. The family has also been involved in a separate legal battle with Swedish authorities over the custody of their other child, Lily.