Law Society Urges Restraint From Beijing On New Law

The Law Society on Thursday issued its first statement on the national security law Beijing is to implement in Hong Kong, saying while the National People's Congress has the power to bring in such legislation, it should "exercise restraint".

The statement said it is vital that the legislation is formulated in compliance with common law principles and the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, "in order that the human rights protection for Hong Kong people are fully safeguarded".

The Law Society said it "respectfully requests" that the offences covered under the national security law are narrowly and well-defined and are not retrospective.

It called for the current rules on the admissibility of evidence to be applicable and for sentences attached to the various offences to be reasonable and proportionate.

The statement said that in principle, there should be open court jury trials, with no separate court for national security cases, and there should be no nationality criteria for which judges can preside over the trials.

In addition, the society said "any agencies set up by national security organs pursuant to the [NPC] decision must comply with the laws of the HKSAR and be subject to the jurisdiction of the HKSAR Courts".

Finally, the society said it hopes that nothing in the legislation will interfere with communications protected by legal professional privilege.

"Legal professional privilege is safeguarded pursuant to the Basic Law and is a fundamental common law right of all legal persons, which is not subject to any competing policy."

The Hong Kong Bar Association had issued a statement on the national security law plan more than two weeks ago, flagging up a series of "worrying problems" and saying it believes Beijing has no power under the Basic Law to insert the legislation into Annex III as intended.