Hong Kong Security Law Creates "Human Rights Emergency": Amnesty

The legislation -- which criminalises 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.

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