Hong Kong lawmakers rush through ‘draconian’ bill that imposes life sentences for ‘traitors’ and ‘public enemies’ after top mainland China officials pressured the city-state to fast-track the changes to protect ‘core national interests’

Lawmakers in Hong Kong have rushed to pass a “draconian” bill that would impose life sentences on “traitors” and “public enemies”, weeks after top mainland Chinese officials pressured them over “core national security interests”.

Lawmakers in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council, or LegCo, passed the Internal Security Law at a special meeting today, just 11 days after it was published by the government.

The legislation comes into effect from Saturday and was passed unanimously, with 88 of the 90 representatives who sit on the LegCo on behalf of the citizens of Hong Kong addressing the House and expressing their support for the worrying piece of legislation.

Two representatives of the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU), which supports the bill, said it would make it harder for “traitors” and “public enemies” to work with the West to disrupt Hong Kong.

It comes just weeks after China’s Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang visited Hong Kong and pressured lawmakers to push for the bill, claiming it would protect “core national interests.”

Lawmakers in the Hong Kong Legislative Council, or LegCo, (pictured) passed the Internal Security Bill at a special meeting today

One politician, representing the city’s financial sector, said no one who breaks the rules should worry about the legislation

Xuexiang, the country’s sixth most powerful person, visited officials in Hong Kong to pressure them to push through the legislation.

Hours after his visit on March 7, the city’s government said the national security law had been approved by the Executive Council. A government source told the newspaper South China Morning Mail at a time when the bill would be accelerated to ‘minimize possible manipulation of the subject’.

The bill will introduce life sentences for Hong Kongers convicted of treason, insurrection, incitement to mutiny of a member of the Chinese armed forces, or conspiring with an outside force to damage or weaken public infrastructure with the intent to harm national security to endanger.

The maximum sentence for sedition, the crime of inciting people to rebel against authorities, will also be more than tripled, from two to seven years.

City Leader John Lee said: “Today is a historic moment for Hong Kong.”

One politician, representing the city’s financial sector, said no one who breaks the rules should worry about the legislation.

Banker Chan Chun-ying of the Finance Functional Constituency said: “Law-abiding residents don’t have to worry about accidentally breaking the law.”

The bill comes just a few years after the 2019-2020 freedom protests, which saw millions of Hong Kongers take to the streets to fight against a bill that would have made it easier for people to be extradited to mainland China (File image)

One politician, representing the city’s financial sector, said no one who breaks the rules should worry about the legislation (File image)

The bill, now in its final stages, would introduce life sentences for Hong Kongers convicted of treason or rebellion.

The legislation was first introduced at the LegCo in 2003, but more than half a million Hong Kongers took to the streets to protest against it (File image)

Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s China Director, said: ‘With this draconian legislation, the Hong Kong government has dealt another crushing blow to human rights in the city. The authorities enacted this law in the blink of an eye, destroying any remaining hope that public outrage could counter its most destructive elements.

“The passage of this law sends the clearest message yet that the Hong Kong authorities’ appetite to accommodate Beijing’s will exceeds all previous human rights commitments. The government has ignored increasingly urgent warnings from UN human rights experts that its approach to national security law is incompatible with Hong Kong’s international obligations.

“Above all, this is a devastating moment for the people of Hong Kong, hundreds of thousands of whom have previously marched through the streets to demonstrate against repressive laws, including an incarnation of this law in 2003. Today, they have lost yet another piece of their freedom. – every act of peaceful protest is now more dangerous than ever.

“It has never been more important for organizations like Amnesty International to support Hong Kongers who continue to risk their freedom simply by exercising their rights.

“We urge all those with influence in Hong Kong – from governments and businesses to the UN and EU – not to neglect Hong Kongers in their time of need, but instead to increase pressure on the territory’s authorities to respect human rights and to withdraw human rights. all laws that violate it.”

Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s China director, said: ‘With this draconian legislation, the Hong Kong government has dealt another crushing blow to human rights in the city’ (File image)

Anti-government protesters protect themselves with umbrellas amid tear gas during a demonstration near the Central Government Complex in Hong Kong, China, September 15, 2019

A protester against the extradition bill is held by a riot police officer during a protest at the Po Lam Mass Transit Railway (MTR) station in Hong Kong, China, September 5, 2019

A protester writes ‘Fight for freedom’ on a wall during a rally in Hong Kong, China, August 31, 2019

The bill comes just a few years after the 2019-2020 freedom protests, which saw millions of Hong Kongers take to the streets to fight against a bill that would have made it easier for people to be extradited to mainland China, where they would be extradited. The country offered far fewer rights and would face a murkier legal system.

The legislation was first introduced at the LegCo in 2003, but more than half a million Hong Kongers, who lived in a British dependent territory until 1997 when power was handed over to China, took to the streets to protest.

Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, the politician who was forced to resign in 2003 for leading the law, said she looked forward to completing a “historic mission.”

She now sits on the Executive Council, an advisory body made up of politicians that provides leadership to Hong Kong’s Chief Executive.

Ip said that if her bill had been passed in 2003, Hong Kong would not have seen the wave of grassroots political activity that it did in 2019 and 2014, when a series of sit-in protests took place following proposals that would have effectively hit the mainland allowed China to pre-screen candidates for leadership of the city-state.

“In 2014, we wouldn’t have seen the 79-day Occupy Central movement,” she said.

“It was already some foreign forces who were doing something to overthrow the social order in Hong Kong so that they could overthrow government policies.

“We also had the well-known violent activity in 2019 to overthrow the government and separate Hong Kong from China.”