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The Hong Kong Legislative Council’s panels on Security, and Administration of Justice and Legal Services (the “Panels”) on Monday proposed a new “subsidiary legislation” under Article 23 of Hong Kong Basic Law, empowering its chief executive to certify “other offences endangering national security under the law of [Hong Kong Special Administrative region] (HKSAR).”
Specifically, the proposal paper states:
The proposal has cited “the present complicated geopolitical landscape” where national security risks still persist the reason necessitating the new subsidiary legislation. According the proposal, the “subsidiary legislation can improve the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for HKSAR to safeguard national security…” and the earlier that HKSAR approves the legislation, the better it is for national security.
To be clear, the chief executive already has the power to issue certificates to decide whether a criminal act invokes national security under the current legislative landscape. What the subsidiary legislation does is broaden the chief executive’s discretion and remove any scope for discussion as to whether an ordinary crime should face scrutiny under the HKNSL.
The Panels have proposed that the subsidiary legislation be enacted through a “negative vetting” procedure and become effective “on the day” it is published in the Gazette. The proposal paper clarifies that the subsidiary legislation does not involve the creation of “any new criminal offense, penalty or enforcement power,” and that all persons facing criminal charges regardless of whether they involve national security will “continue to enjoy the right to a fair trial by the judiciary vested with independent judicial power.” Nevertheless, the subsidiary legislation has been criticized due to the fact that primary HKNSL allows the government to handpick judges and conduct closed-door hearings for national security cases and set a higher bar for bail.
The HKNSL was passed in June 2020 by China’s legislature to be imposed in Hong Kong. It has been criticized by governments and rights organizations, particularly for its “chilling effect” on fundamental rights, including protests and academic freedom, and described as a “Death Knell for Democracy in Hong Kong.” It has been used to prosecute protestors commemorating the Tiananmen massacre and to sentence pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison. In March, Hong Kong amended the HKNSL to empower the police to demand cellphone passwords. Research shows that more than 80 percent of those convicted under these laws since 2020 have been “wrongly criminalized.”
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Specifically, the proposal paper states:
The proposal paper goes on to state that a person charged with or convicted of any “alternative offence in respect of the same act in the same case” connected to any offense endangering national security, that alternative offense will also be classified as one that invokes Hong Kong’s national security law.
The proposal has cited “the present complicated geopolitical landscape” where national security risks still persist the reason necessitating the new subsidiary legislation. According the proposal, the “subsidiary legislation can improve the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for HKSAR to safeguard national security…” and the earlier that HKSAR approves the legislation, the better it is for national security.
To be clear, the chief executive already has the power to issue certificates to decide whether a criminal act invokes national security under the current legislative landscape. What the subsidiary legislation does is broaden the chief executive’s discretion and remove any scope for discussion as to whether an ordinary crime should face scrutiny under the HKNSL.
The Panels have proposed that the subsidiary legislation be enacted through a “negative vetting” procedure and become effective “on the day” it is published in the Gazette. The proposal paper clarifies that the subsidiary legislation does not involve the creation of “any new criminal offense, penalty or enforcement power,” and that all persons facing criminal charges regardless of whether they involve national security will “continue to enjoy the right to a fair trial by the judiciary vested with independent judicial power.” Nevertheless, the subsidiary legislation has been criticized due to the fact that primary HKNSL allows the government to handpick judges and conduct closed-door hearings for national security cases and set a higher bar for bail.
The HKNSL was passed in June 2020 by China’s legislature to be imposed in Hong Kong. It has been criticized by governments and rights organizations, particularly for its “chilling effect” on fundamental rights, including protests and academic freedom, and described as a “Death Knell for Democracy in Hong Kong.” It has been used to prosecute protestors commemorating the Tiananmen massacre and to sentence pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai to 20 years in prison. In March, Hong Kong amended the HKNSL to empower the police to demand cellphone passwords. Research shows that more than 80 percent of those convicted under these laws since 2020 have been “wrongly criminalized.”
The post Hong Kong proposes new law empowering chief executive to certify criminal acts as national security offenses appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.