Beijing’s national security office in Hong Kong hits back at foreign condemnation of conviction of 14 democrats
Hong Kong Free Press
China’s national security agency in Hong Kong has hit back at foreign governments’ condemnation of a court’s decision to convict 14 democrats under a Beijing-imposed national security law.
The Office for Safeguarding National Security (OSNS) on Sunday issued a statement slamming the US and other governments, days after a panel of three High Court judges found 14 democrats guilty of taking part in a conspiracy to commit subversion.
They now join 31 former lawmakers and activists who earlier pleaded guilty to that charge in awaiting sentencing.
Two of the 47 democrats – barrister Lawrence Lau and former district councillor Lee Yue-shun – were acquitted on Thursday, becoming the first to be cleared of national security charges since the legislation took effect in June 2020. Prosecutors announced their intention to appeal the acquittals shortly after judges handed down the verdict.
See also: Hong Kong judges’ reasons for convicting 14 democrats under national security law
The OSNS, established in July 2020 soon after the security law was enacted, issued its statement following criticism of the verdicts from the US and EU.
‘External interference’
The office said the US was among a “minority” of governments and politicians who had denigrated Hong Kong’s rule of law, discredited the national security law, and called for sanctions against the city.
The Congressional-Executive Commission on China, a US government agency, said last Thursday the verdicts were a sign that the Chinese Communist Party’s “extreme efforts to restrict democracy and human rights now dictate Hong Kong’s political and judicial institutions.”
The EU called the case a “politically motivated prosecution” in a statement issued on Thursday.
The OSNS said it firmly supported the Hong Kong judiciary’s decision to “punish acts and activities endangering national security according to the law, with no tolerance for any interference by external forces in the rule of law in Hong Kong.”
“The maintenance of national security is a top priority in all countries and regions of the world,” an OSNS spokesperson said, adding that the arrests of suspects and their trial in court are needed to “comprehensively and accurately implement the Hong Kong national security law.”
“These are just acts for safeguarding national security in accordance with the law, and are natural, reasonable and legal. They are necessary measures to demonstrate the authority of the rule of law in Hong Kong and cannot be questioned,” the statement read.
The spokesperson said that a “small group of anti-China and anti-Hong Kong elements” and “forces outside Hong Kong” had openly attacked the city’s judicial system and smeared its national security law, interfering with the judicial proceedings.
“Any intimidation and pressure are bound to be futile, and will never shake the will and determination of the Central Authorities and the SAR to safeguard national security in accordance with the law,” it said.
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