4 HK lawmakers disqualified over oaths

Hong Kong's High Court has thrown out four lawmakers of the Legislative Council for violating the legal requirements of oath-taking when being sworn in.

They are the second group of legislators to be disqualified for not taking the oath properly, after two separatist lawmakers were ousted in November.

In a written judgment handed down on Friday, Court of First Instance Judge Thomas Au Hing-cheung said the oaths by the four lawmakers - Leung Kwok-hung, Edward Yiu Chung-yim, Lau Siu-lai and Nathan Law Kwun-chung - didn't follow the strict wording and solemnity as required by law. Therefore, the court ordered the four to be disqualified with immediate effect. Their Legislative Council membership was deemed invalid from Oct 12, 2016.