Hong Kong’s domestic national security law subject to ‘rigorous’ legislative process with measures to protect innocent, justice chief says

Paul Lam says he continues to engage in discussions and provide explanations on the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance enacted last month

Secretary for justice stresses the law is in line with international human rights standards

2-MIN READ2-MIN

The Legislative Council passed the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance last month. Photo: Sam Tsang

Published: 5:02pm, 28 Apr 2024

Hong Kong’s justice chief has described the legislative process for the city’s recently enacted domestic national security law as “rigorous” with additional public interest defence clauses and measures to protect an “innocent third party” from being affected by the actions of fugitives.

Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok also said the public needed to consider all the elements and connections that constituted an offence, rather than basing criticism on isolated parts or wording when determining whether a law was sufficiently clear.

Secretary for Justice Paul Lam. Photo: Dickson Lee

In a Facebook post on Sunday, Lam said he continued to engage in discussions and provide explanations on the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance enacted last month, with two recent sharing sessions with the Better Hong Kong Foundation think tank and trade group the Chinese Manufacturers’ Association of Hong Kong.

Calling the legislative process “rigorous”, Lam said the government responded seriously to lawmakers’ inquiries while appropriately proposing amendments to the legislation to address opinions.

Lam stressed the law was in line with international human rights standards.

“For example, in response to the media industry’s expectations, we included ‘public interest’ as a defence for the ‘unlawful disclosure of state secrets’,” he said.