If John Lee’s goal was to make Hong Kong’s national security laws clearer, he’s achieved the exact opposite.
This week, the chief executive, a former police officer, defended plans that would allow him to certify virtually any criminal act as a national security case. Officials insist the proposal “clarifies” the law’s existing powers.
The amendments gazetted into law on Monday (without Legislative Council scrutiny) will further blur the vague boundaries of national security enforcement — a remarkable feat given that those boundaries are already so elastic that almost anything can be pulled into their orbit. But leave it to the Beijing-backed John Lee to find a way to make a bad law even less predictable.
Voice of America’s Chinese service quoted CFHK Foundation Policy and Advocacy Manager Frances Hui as saying that the new law “is another step in the regression of Hong Kong’s judicial independence,” especially as national security cases carry stricter bail thresholds (so most defendants are held in jail before trial) and are heard by handpicked judges rather than juries.
Rather than addressing such concerns, Lee doubled down on the proposal, insisting granting the government broader discretion is necessary to make the law “clear.”
In fact, his logic was so muddy that both Security Minister Chris Tang and Justice Secretary Paul Lam were obliged to defend the legislation at a LegCo session on Thursday.
If the chief executive can simply decide that an ordinary criminal matter constitutes a national security case, the law becomes whatever the government says. And naturally, Lee’s decision can’t be challenged in the courts.
This week, the CFHK Foundation marked the seventh anniversary of the historic 2019 democracy movement. Many of the protesters who took to Hong Kong’s streets remain imprisoned, silenced, or living in exile. Yet the movement’s call for freedom, accountability, and democracy continues to resonate across the world.
via Freedom HK
