Hong Kong security law creates 'human rights emergency': Amnesty

Hong Kong's national security law has created a "human rights emergency", Amnesty International said on June 30, a year after China imposed it on the city to crush a pro-democracy movement.

The legislation - which criminalizes anything authorities deem subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorism with up to life in prison - has radically transformed Hong Kong's political and legal landscape.

"In one year, the National Security Law has put Hong Kong on a rapid path to becoming a police state and created a human rights emergency for the people living there," Amnesty's Asia-Pacific Regional Director Yamini Mishra said.

Beijing insisted the legislation was required to restore stability after huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy demonstrations in 2019, but promised it would target only an "extreme minority".

Police and prosecutors have since applied the law broadly, with the vast majority of charges targeting political speech, reneging on China's assurances that Hong Kong would be allowed to maintain its key liberties and autonomy after its 1997 handover from Britain.

Amnesty released the report a week after pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily was forced to shut down following the arrests of its senior executives and lead editorial writer, and a freeze on its assets.

"From politics to culture, education to media, the law has infected every part of Hong Kong society and fomented a climate of fear that forces residents to think twice about what they say, what they tweet and how they live their lives," Amnesty said in the report.

The human rights group said it analyzed court judgments and hearing notes, and interviews with activists targeted under the law to show how the legislation has been used...