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Hong Kong government unveils national security law details
- Beijing has given mainland China authorities broad powers to hear ‘complicated’ cases, with life imprisonment for the most serious offences
- Mainland agents will be allowed to operate freely in Hong Kong and outside any supervision of local law enforcement
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Key points:
- Beijing will exercise jurisdiction over “complicated” cases such as those relating to foreign interference, or when local authorities cannot enforce law effectively, or the nation’s security is under major threat
- For cases Beijing has jurisdiction over, the mainland Chinese agency in Hong Kong will launch an investigation and Supreme People’s Procuratorate will assign prosecution authorities. The Supreme People’s Court will assign courts to hear the cases
- The law is not retroactive
- A dedicated police unit is to investigate cases, while a mainland Chinese security office will be set up in Hong Kong
Beijing’s sweeping new national security law, which Hong Kong adopted on Tuesday, has turned out to be a tougher-than-expected set of rules that will be overseen and enforced by a new mainland Chinese agency with the power of the state behind it to take over some cases and operate in the city without falling under local jurisdiction.
The full draft of the controversial legislation, in six chapters consisting of 66 articles, was released late on Tuesday night after it became effective in the city amid widespread concerns about its implications, despite official reassurances that only a small minority would be targeted.
It lists four categories of offences – secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with a foreign country or external elements to endanger national security. The maximum penalty for each crime is life imprisonment, although the suggested sentence for some minor offences is less than three years’ imprisonment.
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Hong Kong national security law full text:
Suspects can be extradited to mainland China in cases that involve “complicated situations” of interference by foreign forces; cases in which the local government cannot effectively enforce the law and ones where national security is under “serious and realistic threats”.
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