31.1 C
Delhi
Tuesday, September 17, 2024

China-ruled Hong Kong govt expanding use of sedition laws, setback to Press Freedom: Analysts

Hong Kong government is expanding its use of a long-dormant sedition law in what some lawyers and democracy advocates say is intensifying a squeeze on press freedom.

Suraj Maurya
By Suraj Maurya
ViewpointWorld

HONG KONG – The Hong Kong government is expanding its use of a long-dormant sedition law in what some lawyers and democracy advocates say is intensifying a squeeze on press freedom.

Evidence of the renewed reliance on the sedition legislation came in late December when China-ruled Hong Kong targeted two media outlets. On Dec. 29, about 200 police raided the office of online outlet Stand News and arrested seven people, charging two editors with conspiracy to publish “seditious publications.”

Authorities have not yet fully explained what led to the charges. But pro-Beijing media outlets Ta Kung Pao and DotDotNews cited several Stand News articles they saw as anti-government, including discussions with local democratic activists and opposition figures – topics that were recently uncommon in Hong Kong.

Earlier in the day, prosecutors had filed a lawsuit against Jimmy Lai, 74, against a new insurrectionist, the founder of the now-banned newspaper Apple Daily, and some of his top officials.

The charge of sedition, incitement or sedition against the central authorities, stems from colonial laws designed to prevent opposition to the British crown, and had not been used in Hong Kong since the mid-1960s until recently, three legal experts said in a statement. . Last month’s treason charges were the first to be opened to the media since 1967, according to academics.

Some legal experts say the recent court decisions have given authorities the power to use the controversial national security law (NSL) law, which was set by Beijing in 2020, to strengthen colonial rule, including rebellion.

The security law, enacted in the aftermath of the violent democratic protests that rocked the city in 2019, gives police more power to search, kidnap and monitor and makes it harder for detainees to get bail. Only judges appointed by national security services will handle cases under the law.

Rebellion law allows officials to directly direct published media content and does not require prosecutors to present evidence that an offensive article or speech was intended to revolt, according to three lawyers.

“To some extent, the government is better equipped now,” said Simon Young, a professor of law school at the University of Hong Kong. “National security legislation provides an improved framework for procedures and investigations to prosecute these cases.”

An attorney whose work has disrupted Hong Kong’s delivery from Britain to China in 1997, stated: “We realize that in an instant, the NSL has redefined these very old old laws. It is as if we were drinking bitter wine, old colonies in new, powerful bottles. ”

Asked if the security law has increased the power of colonial laws such as sedition, the Hong Kong Department of Justice declined to comment but said prosecution of cases that endanger national security “is based on credible evidence.”

“We express our deepest regrets to the government, the media and organizations in the United States and the West for their efforts to distort the facts and slander of law enforcement measures,” a government spokesman said.

The actions against Stand News are directed at “illegal acts” and “have nothing to do with media freedom,” he added. Recent measures have increased media pressure over the past year, including the closure of Apple Daily and the recruitment of new employees. guidelines for public broadcasting RTHK to ensure that all content complies with national security legislation.

‘Walking on egg shells’

A full-page article in China-sponsored Ta Kung Pao newspaper last week criticized the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) and the Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC) for helping organize a regional human rights award that honors the work of journalists it said. Had “anointed” Hong Kong police and the Chinese government.

The newspaper, whose articles often precede the rule of law, has called on the authorities to investigate.

Asked if the government was planning to investigate the FCC and HKJA, a government spokesman said he had not commented on “speculation.” “We will continue to refrain from efforts to pursue the legal debts of any organizations and individuals that endanger national security.”

Keith Richburg, president of the FCC and head of the journalism school at the University of Hong Kong, said the closure of the Stand News and the imprisonment “left everyone in a shell. … The open-ended question of whether Hong Kong can continue to grow and prosper without that free and open source machine. ”

Ronson Chan, head of HKJA, dismissed Ta Kung Pao’s allegations and said the awards process was “independent and fair.”

A spokesman for the government stated that “freedom of speech and freedom of the press are not absolute, and can be restricted for reasons including security of national security,” adding that “no one is above the law.”

It’s hard to enforce

Legal scholars who are widely regarded as guilty of inciting or resisting, in word or deed, in defiance of legal authority, revolutionary laws in Hong Kong and elsewhere have long been regarded as British colonial objects beyond modern law.

According to Hong Kong’s Crimes Ordinance – a law that spells out the details of insurgency – it is a crime to publish anything that brings “hatred or contempt or incitement to the Hong Kong government.”

Despite the difficult language, some lawyers and academics have long believed that sedition cases would be difficult to make. Freedom of expression and other rights protection are enshrined in modern law, including the Hong Kong Bill of Rights and the Constitution, a small British colonial constitution since its inauguration in Beijing in 1997.

Ten academics, criminal lawyers and diplomats said in interviews that their views had changed because the NSL’s powers can be applied to older laws, such as sedition.

Some provisions of the NSL refer generally to acts “endangering national security,” which judges have ruled effectively extends the law’s reach to cover older, pre-existing laws that involve national security, such as sedition and espionage.

In rulings on pretrial matters for two separate cases last year, including one involving media tycoon Lai, the Court of Final Appeal said the security law’s reference to “acts endangering national security” included violations of these older laws.

And a District Court ruling in April noted that under the security law, the older offense of sedition was now classified as an indictable offense, making it a more serious crime with a potentially longer statute of limitations and tougher sentencing guidelines, according to the legal scholars interviewed for this story.

In the past, the offense of sedition was classified as a summary offense that would be handled by a lower court magistrate alone, without a jury.

While the government’s enforcement hand has been strengthened, the basis on which authorities arrested journalists and charged media organizations still needs to be fully tested in Hong Kong’s courts, including the Court of Final Appeal, lawyers, legal scholars and diplomats point out.

Three criminal barristers said certain exceptions written long ago into the sedition law that authorities are now relying on were good ammunition for defense counsel.

The Crimes Ordinance states, for example, that it is not seditious to show the sovereign “has been misled or mistaken in any of (its) measures” or point out “matters which are producing … feelings of ill-will or enmity between different classes of the population of Hong Kong.”

SourceThe Japan Times

Most Popular Articles

Our Newsletter

Don't Worry! We don't Spam

Explore

Living

Follow Us

Support Us

© All Rights Reserved