National security law: Hong Kong courts should have full jurisdiction over prosecutions, political heavyweights say

Former Legislative Council president Jasper Tsang calls for jurisdiction to reside with Hong Kong judges, with law not applying retrospectively

Executive councillor Ronny Tong backs principle that Beijing law imposed on Hong Kong will have the safeguards of local judicial system

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Anti-government protesters voice their opposition to the national security law on June 12. Photo: Dickson Lee

Published: 10:55pm, 13 Jun 2020Updated: 11:43pm, 13 Jun 2020

Hong Kong courts should have full jurisdiction over all prosecutions under the national security law Beijing is imposing on the city and the legislation should not be applied retroactively, according to two senior political figures.

Former Legislative Council president Jasper Tsang Yok-sing also said on Saturday he believed the primary purpose of the legislation was to rid the city of foreign interference and “stamp out Hong Kong-style colour revolution”, as he cast doubt on whether the law would succeed in quelling the anti-government protests that have flared across the city since last summer.

The veteran Beijing loyalist rejected suggestions too that the central government was looking to use the law – which aims to prevent, stop and punish secession, subversion of state power, terrorism and foreign interference in the city – to ban opposition candidates from running in September’s Legco elections.

“Many violent incidents that have occurred since last year are irrelevant to the issue of national security. Not everyone throwing petrol bombs is acting to endanger national security,” Tsang said in a seminar organised by the pro-establishment Asia Pacific Law Association (APLA).

“Although one of the reasons to enact the law is to restore social order, it is not the main cause,” he stressed.

Speaking at the forum too, senior counsel Ronny Tong Ka-wah, an executive councillor on Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor’s de facto cabinet, emphasised the need for the law to be subject to the safeguards embedded in Hong Kong’s judicial system.

It should also comply with standard common law principles such as trial by jury, in front of judges with no restrictions on their nationality, he said.