Hong Kong’s authorities amended the town’s immigration legal guidelines on Wednesday to allow safety chiefs to ban passengers from taking any type of transport in or out of the town.
The amended legislation has sparked considerations that it will likely be used to forestall individuals from leaving amid an ever-widening crackdown on public dissent and peaceable political opposition.
The modification to the Immigration Ordinance was handed in a Legislative Council (LegCo) devoid of opposition members, who resigned en masse in December 2020 in protest over the expulsion of 4 of their colleagues.
Dozens of former members of the pro-democracy camp in LegCo have been arrested in current months, both for public order offenses linked to peaceable protests through the 2019 anti-extradition and pro-democracy motion, or beneath a draconian nationwide safety legislation imposed on Hong Kong by the ruling Chinese language Communist Get together (CCP) from July 1, 2020.
The modification handed by 39 votes to 2, journalism scholar Christina Chan mentioned through her Twitter account.
The amended invoice, which takes impact from Aug. 1, has been billed by the federal government as a crackdown on asylum-seekers and undocumented migrants.
However it additionally features a clause enabling border guards to forestall an individual from boarding a flight or every other type of transportation out of the town, paving the best way for exit bans on any of Hong Kong’s seven million residents and even on visiting overseas nationals.
The proposed modification to Part 6A of the prevailing legislation will “empower the Director [of Immigration] to direct {that a} passenger or a member of the crew of a service could or might not be carried on board the service,” in keeping with copies of the draft amendments posted on-line by the federal government.
The authorities can even arrange a complicated passenger data system that may funnel the information of individuals arriving within the metropolis to the immigration division for vetting, making it simpler for individuals to be denied entry or detained on arrival.
Residents already imagine the town’s airport is beneath routine surveillance by nationwide safety police, after Youtuber Bob’s Your Uncle filmed a bunch of unidentified individuals with no baggage lingering within the departure corridor and watching passengers board their flights in January.
‘Anti-China politician’
The Hong Kong Bar Affiliation (HKBA) had referred to as in February for the Invoice to be amended to mirror that the Secretary of Safety’s powers (through the Director of Immigration) did not embody barring somebody from boarding a flight or different type of transport leaving Hong Kong.
However the invoice was finally handed into legislation with no such modification in place.
The HKBA’s view had been that the legislation “might have the impact of barring Hong Kong residents from boarding an plane or every other technique of transportation both coming to or departing from Hong Kong.”
The HKBA was itself focused for criticism by Beijing’s Central Liaison Workplace in Hong Kong, calling its chairman Paul Harris an “anti-China politician” whose tenure made “a mockery” of the affiliation.
Harris has additionally questioned the nationwide safety legislation, in addition to the sentencing of 10 veteran pro-democracy activists for collaborating in peaceable protests in 2019.
Chief govt Carrie Lam mentioned there was no must take motion in opposition to Harris “in the meanwhile.”
“If there are situations or complaints concerning the bar not performing in accordance with Hong Kong’s legislation, then in fact the federal government might be referred to as into motion,” she advised journalists.
In the meantime, the HKBA has mentioned it’ll examine members and veteran pro-democracy politicians Margaret Ng and Martin Lee after they have been convicted of collaborating in an “unlawful meeting” on Aug. 18, 2019.
“The matter concerning the convictions of the 2 members have been drawn to the eye of the Bar Council which is in the middle of an investigation into the matter,” it mentioned in a press release to the Hong Kong Free Press.
Reported by Chan Yun Nam for RFA’s Cantonese and Mandarin Providers. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.