Under the pretext of security, the Hong Kong government presented lawmakers with a bill aimed at tightening the rules for meetings with doctors, lawyers, and religious leaders. According to its backers, violations and abuses have characterised prison visits in the past. According to the authorities, human and civil rights, including those of prisoners, should be “limited by the need to maintain national security, discipline and order.”
In Hong Kong, the NGO that reported on spontaneous worker protests and workplace accidents in mainland China has been forced to cease operations. It was founded in 1994 by activist Han Dongfang, who tried to set up an independent trade union in Tiananmen Square in 1989. A few hours after the announcement, the website was already down. Sixty civil society groups have now been dissolved since 2020.
The well-known pro-democracy activist has been charged again under the infamous national security law for "conspiracy to collude with foreign forces”. This is an attempt by Hong Kong authorities to keep him in prison. He risks a life sentence, human rights groups warn.
On the eve of the 36th anniversary of the Tiananmen massacre, Hong Kong authorities have sealed off Victoria Park again, once the venue for a memorial vigil for the victims until 2019. Meanwhile, the CHRD released a list of 32 people detained for refusing to be silent about those events, including six in mainland China who were direct participants in the events of 1989.
The local government is asking the Legislative Council (which it controls) to approve a new regulation that would hand over jurisdiction to mainland China in "complex cases" involving foreign countries. The measure appears tailored to the case of Jimmy Lai. The "geopolitical situation" is cited as justification. It was opposition to extradition that sparked the pro-democracy protests in 2019.
A 65-year-old Jesuit, he has led the Catholic community of the great metropolis for more than three years, putting the challenge of unity and education of young people first in a difficult social context after the events of 2019. He knows the dioceses of the People's Republic of China well, having already made three official trips to Beijing, Guangdong and Shanghai.
