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HONG KONG – Businesses and human rights groups express concern over proposed changes to Hong Kong's extradition law that would allow suspects to be sent to mainland China, where they could be subject torture and unfair prosecution.
According to them, this decision would undermine the attractiveness of the Asian financial hub for international trade.
Hong Kong currently restricts such extraditions to jurisdictions with which it has concluded extradition agreements or to individual agreements under a law pbaded before the transition from the semi-autonomous territory of British rule to Chinese rule. in 1997. China was excluded because of the concerns of its poor record on legal independence and human rights.
However, the amendments to the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance and the Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters Ordinance would broaden the possibilities for the transfer of criminal suspects to China and would remove the legislator's right to control individual decisions in criminal matters. extradition rendered by the Hong Kong Chief Executive.
"These amendments would increase the risk for human rights activists and other critics that China will be extradited to the mainland for trial," Sophie Richardson, China's director at Human Rights Watch, said Sunday.
"The amendments would tarnish Hong Kong's reputation for the rule of law and should be removed," said Richardson, adding that the changes to the law would expose Hong Kongers to torture and unfair trials.
These concerns were reflected in a letter to the Executive Director, Carrie Lam, written by Human Rights, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor and the local branch of Amnesty International.
The groups warned that fear of extradition to China – who routinely use charges of tax evasion or other economic crimes invented to punish political critics – could stifle civil society and freedom of expression in Hong Kong, where civil liberties are already violated. -Beijing groups. In recent years, several people linked to a publishing house in Hong Kong, which produced unflattering books about China's mainland rulers, appeared in the custody of Chinese police after apparently being abducted, as well as the 39, a major business man wanted on the mainland.
Unlike China, Hong Kong is subject to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment and "customary international law", which "prohibits to return people to them there is a real risk of torture and other ill-treatment, unfair trials and other serious violations of human rights, "the letter says.
In addition, the US Chamber of Commerce of Hong Kong issued a letter in which it stated that its members "continued to seriously worry" about the proposed changes, saying that they "would reduce the attractiveness of Hong Kong for international companies that consider Hong Kong as a base for its regional operations. . "
"Hong Kong's international reputation for the rule of law is its invaluable treasure," says the letter.
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Christopher Bodeen, a writer at the Associated Press in Beijing, contributed to this report.
Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, disseminated, rewritten or redistributed.
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