Hong Kong’s plan to extend detention period of suspects in national security cases sparks concerns among rights experts
- Rights lawyer calls suggestions on extending detention and barring arrestees from contacting legal representatives ‘very concerning’
- Authorities said proposals were to allow more time for police investigation and prevent suspects from fleeing
Legal and human rights experts have expressed concerns over Hong Kong authorities’ proposals on extending the detention period of arrestees in national security cases, as well as other moves to stop absconders.
They also brought up other ideas, such as implementing measures to prevent absconding and tightening the threshold for the early release of inmates convicted of national security offences.
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The paper referred to the United Kingdom’s National Security Act, which empowers police to seek a longer detention period from a judicial authority before laying charges.
Other UK laws allowing police to detain suspects in serious crimes for up to 14 days with judicial permission were also mentioned.
It also said the UK act enabled officers of certain ranks to bar arrestees from consulting a particular lawyer or delaying the meeting, and stipulated that individuals who were believed to be involved in foreign power threat activities could be subject to restrictions on residence, communication with others and movements.
The government also pointed to the United States, where passports of fugitives wanted for a criminal offence or prohibited from leaving the country could get revoked.
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Scholar Eric Lai Yan-ho, a research fellow at the Centre for Asian Law at Georgetown University in Washington, said he was concerned about what he perceived as an expansion of police powers in the consultation document.
“From how these powers are exercised, it appears that the Hong Kong government wants to shorten the process of justice in these criminal trials, which may, if they remain ambiguous, create more issues of due process,” Lai warned.
“It would further harm the integrity of the legal system and the independence of the judiciary in Hong Kong.”
Lai said it would be unfair to directly compare the city’s home-grown law with other jurisdictions.
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“In Western countries, such as the United Kingdom, they have some judicial safeguards to prevent the appeal of powers by police or the government,” Lai added.
“For instance when it comes to extending detention, [police] will need the court’s acceptance that they have specific grounds before an extension is granted.”
Security minister Chris Tang Ping-keung on Wednesday said police needed longer time to handle what he called very complex national security-related investigations. He added that suspects might also flee or notify accomplices after they were set free.
“We have to review [the detention period], but it equally important to have checks and balances such as adding administrative measures or a court order. We will listen to opinions and study it further,” he said.
Article 23 requires the city to enact legislation to ban acts of treason, secession, subversion against the central government, and theft of state secrets.
Authorities said in the paper the public might consider relevant foreign laws mentioned and provide their views to eliminate “shortcomings and inadequacies” in handling national security cases.
They added that experience in handling cases related to the social unrest in 2019 showed arrestees might pose “considerable national security risks while on bail” and that measures to give police “sufficient time” to conduct initial investigations were required.
High-profile opposition activist Agnes Chow Ting, who was on bail over suspected collusion with a foreign country or external elements endangering national security, declared in December she would not return to Hong Kong after police approved her study leave to Canada.
Human rights lawyer Mark Daly said suggestions for detention extension and barring arrestees from contacting their legal representatives were “very concerning”.
“Banning consultation with lawyers and extending detention would raise great concerns about further deviation from important human rights or legal safeguards,” he said.
“A major safeguard in the common law world is to have legal involvement right away … That [can] avoid abuse. That’s why you have lawyers able to meet their clients at the earliest possible stages.”
Last year, national security police issued a HK$1 million (US$128,000) bounty on each of the 13 wanted legislators and opposition figures who had fled overseas.
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The paper said people who endangered national security often fled overseas, thus the city should make reference to the US laws to prevent abscondment such as authorising police to revoke the outlaws’ passports, suspending their social benefits, and banning the harbouring or concealing of fugitives by law.
The paper also said that some prisoners convicted of endangering national security had fled or continued relevant acts after they were granted early release, adding the threshold for parole for such cases could be tightened, similar to what the UK had done regarding terrorism offenders.
Former director of public prosecutions Grenville Cross agreed that the arrangements by the UK and US on detention and passports “are useful reference points for Hong Kong to be guided by”.
“Although a balance has to be achieved between protecting national security and upholding the rights of suspects, the investigators need to be able to complete their tasks, which means having sufficient time,” said Cross, the city’s top prosecutor from 1997 to 2009.
“What is ultimately unfair to suspects is prosecuting them prematurely, before everything has been fully investigated, and it is this the proposals are seeking to avoid.”
