Hong Kong tables homegrown national security legislation

Hong Kong on Friday published its draft of a new national security law, spelling out tougher penalties for a variety of offences including treason, insurrection, theft of state secrets, espionage, sabotage and external interference.

The Legislative Council started debating the bill on Friday amid tight security, and several members of the largely pro-Beijing body told reporters they expected the bill to be passed into law before mid-April.

Some lawyers analysing the draft said, at first glance, elements of the revised sentences for some listed offences are similar to Western ones but some provisions, such as those for sedition and state secrets, are broader and potentially tougher.

The bill includes sentences of up to life imprisonment for treason, insurrection and sabotage, 20 years for espionage and 10 years for crimes linked to state secrets and sedition.

Read more: Hong Kong proposes life sentence for treason and insurrection in new national security law

The bill also proposed extending police detention for those arrested, without charge, for up to 14 days with a magistrate's approval and potentially limited access to lawyers, compared to 48 hours currently.

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

The sentences for sedition, defined as inciting disaffection or hatred towards authorities through acts, words or publications, have been expanded from two to up to 10 years for offences in collusion with foreign forces.

Meanwhile, the bill proposes a jail term of up to 3 years, up from one year, for possessing a seditious publication and police have the right to search any premise to seize and destroy such material.

The definition of state secrets also appears quite broad, some lawyers said, saying it includes military, security and diplomatic secrets as well as classified social, economic and technological information involving China and Hong Kong governments, and their relationship.