The Monday arrest of media mogul Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong is a snapshot of how authorities intend to use the new national security law to stifle press freedom, a prominent rights group said on Monday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th August, 2020) The Monday arrest of media mogul Jimmy Lai in Hong Kong is a snapshot of how authorities intend to use the new national security law to stifle press freedom, a prominent rights group said on Monday.
Earlier in the day, Hong Kong police arrested Lai and nine others during a raid of the pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily on charges of colluding with a foreign country under the controversial law.
"The arrest of Jimmy Lai for allegedly 'colluding with foreign powers' is a disturbing demonstration of how the Hong Kong authorities intend to use the new national security law to threaten press freedom," Nicholas Bequelin, Asia-Pacific Regional Director at Amnesty International said in a statement.
Bequelin added that the accusation of collusion "highlights how this overly broad and vague provision of the national security law can be used to prosecute those with different political views."
Prominent anti-Beijing activist Agnes Chow and Lai's two sons were among those arrested in the raid.
China's newly-adopted law adjusts security policies in Hong Kong to Beijing's perception of crime and punishment with regard to separatism, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign countries. The critics of the law in China's special administrative region and abroad fear that it might limit Hong Kong's exclusive rights and freedoms.
