Pro-govt Rally Backs Planned New Extradition Laws

About 10 pro-government groups on Monday voiced their support for the Security Bureau's plan to make it easier to hand wanted people over to other jurisdictions, including the mainland.

They staged a demonstration outside the government's headquarters, warning that there is a loophole in Hong Kong's current legislation on extraditions and if it isn't plugged the city could become a safe haven for fugitives.

Kacee Ting from one of the groups, the Hong Kong Legal Exchange Foundation, said the recent murder of a Hong Kong woman in Taiwan exposed the need for the law to be changed, with the prime suspect back in Hong Kong and out of the reach of the Taiwanese authorities.

Ting, who is a barrister, said it was no longer acceptable that the mainland, Taiwan and Macau are excluded from provisions set out in the Fugitives Ordinance on surrendering crime suspects to other jurisdictions.

"We could not see this urgency back then, but now we have a real case ... and the government cannot do anything about it," he said.

Ting added that the plan to allow extraditions on a case-by-case basis would be a lot simpler than seeking new extradition treaties.

Pro-democracy legislators have warned that the legal changes planned would allow Beijing to force Hong Kong to surrender people for political reasons. They say those wanted by the mainland could be wrongly accused of other crimes to make sure the SAR's courts agree to the extraditions.