Hong Kong security law is 'a human rights emergency' - Amnesty
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[June 30, 2021]
HONG KONG (Reuters) -Hong Kong
authorities have used a new national security law to target dissent and
justify "censorship, harassment, arrests and prosecutions that violate
human rights", Amnesty International said on Wednesday, a year after the
law was implemented.
Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law in June last year that
sets out punishment for anything it deems as subversion, secession,
colluding with foreign forces and terrorism with up to life in prison,
setting the city on a more authoritarian path.
Authorities have said the law would affect an "extremely small minority"
of people and that it had restored stability after months of
often-violent protests in 2019. They have said rights and freedoms in
the former British colony remain protected but they are not absolute.
Most high-profile democratic politicians and activists have been
arrested under the new law or for protest-related charges, or are in
self-exile.
"In one year, the National Security Law has put Hong Kong on a rapid
path to becoming a police state and created a human rights emergency for
the people living there," said Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific
Regional Director Yamini Mishra.
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"Ultimately, this sweeping and repressive legislation threatens to make
the city a human rights wasteland increasingly resembling mainland
China."
China foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a regular news
conference that Amnesty's statements were "purely malicious slander."
The Hong Kong government did not immediately respond to requests for
comment.
Authorities have said all arrests have been lawful and no one was above
the law, regardless of their occupation.
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![](../images/063021pics/news_y41.jpg)
Hong Kong exile pro-democracy activist Nathan Law wearing a face
mask holds a rally with other activist groups during China's Foreign
Minister Wang Yi's visit in Berlin, Germany September 1, 2020.
REUTERS/Michele Tantussi/File Photo
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In its 47-page report, the international human rights
group cited analysis of court judgements, court hearing notes and
interviews with activists, concluding the legislation has been used
"to carry out a wide range of human rights violations".
Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the promise of a
high degree of autonomy from Beijing and that wide-ranging rights
and freedoms would be protected for at least 50 years.
Mishra said the law "has infected every part of Hong Kong society
and fomented a climate of fear that forces residents to think twice
about what they say, what they tweet and how they live their lives".
More than 100 people were arrested and more than 60 charged in the
first year under the security law, according to a tally by Reuters.
"Hong Kong's NSL has been used as a false pretext to curb dissent,"
the rights group said, referring to the security law.
(Reporting by Pak Yiu; Additional reporting by Gabriel Crossley;
Editing by Marius Zaharia and Robert Birsel)
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