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National security law: why Hong Kong legal experts worry legislation could be backdated
- Outline of law mentions safeguards to uphold international human rights standards and other freedoms but says nothing on whether law will be retroactive
- Legal academic in Beijing says anti-government protesters could fall foul of the law even though it has yet to be enacted
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An outline of the new national security law Beijing is drafting for Hong Kong omitted any mention of it not being retroactive, sparking concern from legal experts and activists the legislation could be backdated.
Their worries grew on Sunday after a mainland legal academic said anti-government protesters who had taken part in the civil unrest that had gripped Hong Kong over the past year could fall foul of the law even though it had yet to be enacted.
Hong Kong lawyers and scholars criticised the comments, saying that was not how the city’s criminal law operated.
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On Saturday, state news agency Xinhua provided the most details to date about the law the country’s top legislative body, the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, is drafting for Hong Kong.
The law will prohibit the crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign and external influences to threaten national security.
Xinhua’s statement said local bodies would take charge of almost all investigations and prosecutions, a new commission focusing on the law with a Beijing-appointed adviser would be chaired by the chief executive, and a mainland agency, named the Office of the National Security Commissioner of the People’s Republic of China in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, would be set up in the city.
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