Pro-Beijing lawmaker Priscilla Leung urges leniency for Hong Kong protesters arrested over ‘minor offences’
- Unconditional amnesty impossible, but some cases deserve ‘special treatment’
- Let protest review panel recommend if some of those arrested can be let off, lawmaker says
Beijing loyalist Priscilla Leung Mei-fun has urged the Hong Kong government to consider pardoning some of those arrested for taking part in protests which have been going on since last June.
With more than 7,000 people arrested so far, the youngest just 11 years old, the lawmaker said those accused of relatively minor offences could be dealt with more leniently.
“An unconditional amnesty is impossible, but special treatment or a lenient sentence – subject to conditions appropriate for those charged for minor offences – is possible,” said Leung, a member of the Basic Law Committee, which advises China’s top legislative body on issues relating to Hong Kong’s mini-constitution.
She joined other pro-establishment heavyweights in asking Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor to expand the remit of a proposed independent review committee to include recommending how to deal with those arrested.
Lam has rejected protesters’ demand for an independent commission of inquiry, preferring to have an independent review committee look into the political and socio-economic causes of the city’s deep-seated problems.
Protesters have also demanded amnesty for those arrested, but the city leader rejected that too, saying pardoning those accused of assault, arson and unlawful assembly would undermine the rule of law.