Martin Lee

Martin Lee SC, JP
李柱銘
Martin Lee at the Congressional-Executive Commission on China meeting in April 2014
Member of the Legislative Council
In office 1 July 1998 – 30 September 2008
Preceded by	New seat
Succeeded by	Tanya Chan
Constituency	Hong Kong Island
In office 9 October 1991 – 30 June 1997
Preceded by	Chan Ying-lun
Succeeded by	Council abolished
Constituency	Hong Kong Island East
In office 30 October 1985 – 25 August 1991
Preceded by	New constituency
Succeeded by	Simon Ip
Constituency	Legal
Chairman of the Democratic Party
In office 2 October 1994 – 2 December 2002
Preceded by	Position established
Succeeded by	Yeung Sum
Personal details
Born	(1938-06-08) 8 June 1938 (age 85) British Hong Kong
Nationality	Chinese
Political party	United Democrats (1990–94) Democratic Party (1994–present)
Other political affiliations	Liberal International
Spouse	Amelia Lee Fong Yee-ngor
Children	1
Alma mater	University of Hong Kong Lincoln's Inn
Website	MartinLee.org.hk

Martin Lee Chu-ming SC, JP (Chinese: 李柱銘; born 8 June 1938) is a Hong Kong politician and barrister. He is the founding chairman of the United Democrats of Hong Kong and its successor, the Democratic Party, Hong Kong's flagship pro-democracy party. He was also a member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong from 1985 to 1997 and from 1998 to 2008. Nicknamed the "Father of Democracy" in Hong Kong, he is recognised as one of the most prominent advocates for democracy and human rights in Hong Kong and China.^[1]

A barrister by profession, Lee served as the chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association from 1980 to 1983. In 1985 he was elected to the Legislative Council, where he advocated strongly for the protection of human rights and democratic reform. He became involved in discussions over Hong Kong's handover to China, and in 1985 he joined the Hong Kong Basic Law Drafting Committee to assist in the drafting of Hong Kong's Basic Law, the city's mini-constitution post-handover. He was, however, expelled from the body in 1989 in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen square crackdown, due to his condemnation of the Beijing government's role in the incident and his vocal support for the student protestors.

In 1990, he became the founding chairman of the first pro-democracy party in Hong Kong, the United Democrats of Hong Kong, and later its successor, the Democratic Party. Under his leadership, the party won two landslide victories in the direct elections of 1991 and 1995, and emerged as one of the largest political parties in Hong Kong. He worked closely with the last Hong Kong Governor Chris Patten in an attempt to push forward constitutional reform in relation to democratic elections, attracting strong criticism from the Beijing government. In June 1997, he was forced to step down from his office when the colonial legislature was dissolved, alongside a number of other legislators; they later won back their seats in the Legislative Council in 1998.

He resigned as the chairman of the Democratic Party in December 2002, and in 2008 he retired as a member of the Legislative Council. Prior to July 2020 he remained active in advocating and lobbying for the democratic cause both locally and internationally. This ended with the passage of the Hong Kong National Security Law on 1 July 2020.