Article 23: HK mulls pre-charge detention of 14 days for national security cases

A draft bill of Hong Kong’s new national security law proposed that police can apply to the courts to extend the detention period for people suspected of endangering national security, without charge, for 14 days with a magistrate's approval, on top of the 48 hours currently.

The draft was published on Friday after the conclusion of a month-long public consultation exercise and was presented to the Legislative Council this morning for scrutiny.

Under the bill, the court can twice extend the pre-charge detention for national security case suspects by seven days each following the initial 48-hour period - such that the maximum detention period would reach 16 days.

Meanwhile, senior police officers would be empowered to apply for a court warrant to bar suspects from consulting ‘particular lawyers’ if such interactions are deemed to endanger national security, or would cause bodily harm to someone, hamper authorities from recovering proceeds from the unlawful act, or pervert the course of justice.

A movement restriction order was also introduced in the bill, where senior police officers could apply directing a person on bail to comply with specified requirements, such as residing in a specified place during a specified period, or barring the person from contacting specified individuals.

According to the bill, a movement restriction order is valid for 3 months, while a magistrate may extend it with each extension being 1 month should the magistrate believe police’s investigation is being diligently and expeditiously conducted.

However, the bill did not spell out the ceiling for such extension, only saying that a person on bail may apply for a review of the order with the court.