Freed Hongkonger sent back to jail as storm delays deportation from Philippines
A Hong Kong man has been returned to a Philippine prison in what his legal team condemned as “illegal detention”, after severe weather halted his deportation following his release.
Tang Lung-wai’s Philippine lawyer, Blessie Rose Carpena, told the South China Morning Post that prison authorities escorted Tang to the Bureau of Immigration last Friday.
However, because government offices were suspended due to a passing typhoon, he was returned to the maximum-security New Bilibid Prison in Muntinlupa.
“[The Bureau of Immigration’s] delay of his release can constitute illegal detention,” Carpena said, describing Tang as “frustrated and devastated.”
Tang was arrested in the Philippines in July 2000 for possessing methamphetamine, also known as ice, and sentenced to 40 years in prison in 2011. He has maintained his innocence and fought the conviction for more than two decades.
In late July, a Manila court ruled that Tang’s sentence was fully served after factoring in good conduct time allowances, ordering his immediate release and deportation.
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