Law Society calls for transparency in legislative process of security law

The Law Society of Hong Kong said today it "respectfully requests" transparency in the legislative process of the national security law for Hong Kong and that the National People's Congress Standing Committee duly takes into account views of the Hong Kong people.

It released its preliminary observations on the national security legislation today.

The association said it acknowledges that as the highest state organ and legislative body of the country, the NPC under the Constitution has the power to decide on and to institute a law for maintaining national security.

"The Law Society considers that the NPC should exercise restraint in invoking its power under the Constitution to introduce laws to be applied to the HKSAR, in order to maintain confidence in the 'One Country, Two Systems' policy and the Rule of Law in Hong Kong," it said.

The association made a number of suggestions and invited the NPCSC's attention when drafting the legislation.

"It is vital that the legislation should be formulated in compliance with common law principles and comply with the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as applied to Hong Kong, in order that the human rights protection for Hong Kong people are fully safeguarded," it said.

The association also "respectfully requests" that the offenses must be narrowly and well defined, must not be retrospective, the sentences should be reasonable, necessary and proportionate, there should be open court jury trials in principle and there should not be any nationality criteria in the assignment of judges.

As for the possibility of setting up national security organs in Hong Kong, it said they must comply with the laws of the SAR and subject to the jurisdiction of the city's courts.

"We add that nothing in the legislation should interfere with communications protected by legal professional privilege. Legal professional privilege is safeguarded pursuant to the Basic Law and is a fundamental common law right of all legal persons, which is not subject to any competing policy."