Hong Kong's government tabled legislation on Wednesday that would allow renditions to mainland China in the face of political protest and warnings from lawyers and journalists.
Opposition lawmakers walked out of the city's Legislative Council (LegCo) as the bill was introduced for its first and second readings, and interrupted security secretary John Lee with shouts of "Withdraw the evil law!" as he introduced it, ignoring repeated questions from pro-democracy members.
The planned changes to the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance will allow the Hong Kong government to respond to case-by-case requests for extradition in the absence of a bilateral treaty. The most likely jurisdiction to use the proposed provision is the ruling Chinese Communist Party, which currently has no bilateral arrangement with Hong Kong.
Journalists warned that the new law could both threaten the safety of journalists, who have traditionally used the city as a safe haven, and have a chilling effect on freedom of expression in Hong Kong.
"Over the years, numerous journalists have been charged or harrassed by mainland authorities under criminal offenses covered by the amendment," several media organizations including the Hong Kong Journalists' Association (HKJA) said in a statement on the HKJA website.
"The amendment will make it possible for mainland authorities to demand the surrender of journalists in Hong Kong, citing all kinds of unfounded charges," the statement warned.
"It is a sword hanging the head of journalists which will muzzle both journalists and whistleblowers, dealing a further blow to the already limited freedom of speech that Hong Kong still enjoys," it said.
Threats to journalists
HKJA chairman Chris Yeung said journalists working in mainland China could be exposed to greater threats to their personal safety.
"This is a huge worry, and it makes little difference whether it is material or psychological," Yeung told RFA. "Journalists and media organizations are going to experience a chilling effect when it comes to reporting sensitive stories, which will mean self-censorship."
Yeung said the government's assurances of built-in safeguards have done little to assuage journalists' concerns.
"We aren't going to rest assured just because the government says those things," he said. "Because if something does happen, it'll be the individual journalist or their organization left dealing with it."
Meanwhile, the Hong Kong Bar Association said that the only jurisdiction not already able to request case-by-case extradition decisions from Hong Kong is mainland China.
"This restriction against any surrender arrangements with the rest of [China] ... is not a 'loophole', as ... misleadingly, asserted by senior Government officials," the association said in a statement.
"It was a deliberate decision by the legislature ... in 1997 not to provide for the application of the [law] to rendition arrangements with the rest of [China], particularly in light of ... concerns over the mainland’s track record on the protection of fundamental rights," the lawyers said.
The law will place all decision-making power over renditions to mainland China into the hands of Hong Kong's chief executive, who is currently elected by a committee hand-picked by Beijing, the statement said.
Holding the government accountable
It said the administration of chief executive Carrie Lam had failed to explain why things should now change.
It said the new law will remove a layer of approval by LegCo, meaning that there is no way to hold the government accountable, and no provision allowing Hong Kong courts to refuse an extradition request on human rights grounds, nor to decide that evidence submitted by the mainland authorities is inadmissible.
The removal of commercial crimes from charges eligible for an extradition request "offers little assurance to citizens and the people in Hong Kong who are legitimately concerned with the criminal and judicial systems in the rest of [China]," it said.
The World Justice Project in 2017/18 ranked China’s justice system 75th out of 113 countries, while Hong Kong came 16th.
Rights groups have called on the Hong Kong government to scrap the proposed legal changes, saying they could place people at risk of torture and unfair trials.
"China's justice system has a record of arbitrary detention, torture, and other ill-treatment, of serious violations of fair trial rights, and of various systems of incommunicado detention without trial," according to a letter last week from Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor.
"These problems are exacerbated because the judiciary lacks independence from the government and the Chinese Communist Party," it said.
Reported by Lau Siu-fung for RFA's Cantonese Service. Translated and edited by Luisetta Mudie.