"An international rights group that monitors civil society around the world has downgraded #HongKong in its global monitor citing a 'systematic crackdown on dissent' under the NSL imposed on the city by the ruling Chinese Communist Party in 2020." rfa.org/english/news/c…
Civicus Monitor said in its annual survey of civil survey that crimes under the law are “vaguely defined and have become catch-all offenses to prosecute activists and critics with heavy penalties.”
“Activists have also been criminalized for sedition, while around 3,000 protesters have been prosecuted for their participation in peaceful gatherings and protests, such as Tiananmen Square vigils which until recently were held annually,” it said.
“Independent and pro-democracy media outlets have been targeted with raids and forced to close and journalists have been criminalized.”
Jimmy Lai’s London-based lawyer, Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, told the council that the law has been used to “target and imprison journalists, writers, lawyers, and peaceful pro-democracy campaigners,” her law firm, Doughty Street Chambers, said in a statement on its website.
“The National Security Law (NSL) is breathtakingly broad: virtually anything could be deemed a threat to ‘national security’ under its provisions, and it can apply to anyone on the planet, even if they have never stepped foot in Hong Kong or China,” Gallagher said.
Lai’s son Sebastian called on United Nations human rights experts to call out “Hong Kong’s abuse of the law to persecute my father and his colleagues and others for exercising their rights to free speech and a free press,” according to the statement.
“It is time for the United Nations to condemn those actions, and do everything in its power to secure my father’s release, and restore hope to Hong Kong,” he said.
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