US-based group calls for sanctions on national security law judges and panel, says Hong Kong has ‘fastest growing population of political prisoners’
- Hong Kong Democracy Council says in report city has one of the fastest-growing populations of ‘political prisoners’ in world
- Responding to the comments, Security Bureau spokesman says government ‘will continue to strive to safeguard national security’
The Hong Kong Democracy Council on Tuesday also urged overseas non-permanent judges in Hong Kong’s Court of Final Appeal to resign, and called on the US government to expedite the creation of humanitarian pathways for what it described as “politically persecuted Hongkongers” in a report.
Responding to the comments, a spokesman from the city’s Security Bureau said in a reply to the Post that the Hong Kong government “despises the suggestions and will continue to strive to safeguard national security”, with enforcement action not based on political stance, background or occupation.
The council said there were 1,014 political prisoners in Hong Kong since June 2019, when anti-government protests sparked by a now-withdrawn extradition bill broke out, with 582 in custody and 432 released after completing their sentences. More than three-quarters of them are under the age of 30.
“Hong Kong now has one of the fastest-growing populations of political prisoners in the world, rivalling Belarus, Burma and Cuba – other societies where authoritarian governments have recently cracked down on protest movements,” the organisation’s executive director Brian Leung Kai-ping said.