'Extremely small number' targeted by security law

Some 250 people have been arrested since the national security law was enacted three years ago, Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok said yesterday.

Hitting out at criticisms that freedom of speech has been stifled, Lam said on radio that among the 250, less than 70 were convicted for behavior jeopardizing national security, and under 30 convicted under the national security law Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in June 2020.

“Let the numbers speak for themselves,” he said. “It only targets an extremely small number of people.”

“What we’re talking about in the convicted cases is that you are inciting others to commit secession or subvert the state,” he said.

“This involves a very specific style of comment - that you have to mess with your own country, such as by pursuing Hong Kong independence or damaging our country’s constitutional order.”

Without naming which case, Lam referred to the city’s first national security law conviction against 25-year-old ex-waiter Leon Tong Ying-kit.

Tong was sentenced to nine years in jail in 2021 after being found guilty of terrorism and inciting secession for driving a motorcycle and white flag showing the protest slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times” into police officers on July 1, 2020.

Lam said the behavior constituted incitement and “it was also very violent.”

He hit back at overseas criticisms that the national security law was too harsh.

“Some western countries, including the United States, made criticisms for political purposes. They just repeat and repeat themselves. The SAR government will continue to proactively respond to these unfair and untrue claims,” he said.

Lam called comments saying the national security law has harmed the city’s freedom of speech as “fabrication.”

“I say I support democracy and freedom every day. I’m not worried I’ll be arrested,” he said.

He said some people raised ideas to “mess up our own nation,” in an attempt to disrupt state and constitutional order.

“This is not academic discussion, but an incitement on purpose,” Lam said.

On the enactment of Basic Law Article 23, Lam said it is hard to lay out an exact timetable, but added the Department of Justice has formed a task force with the

Security Bureau to study how the bill can supplement incumbent laws and plug loopholes against possible national security
crimes.
 
He said the National Security Education Day on April 15 will tie in with the theme “National Security, Foundation of Stability and Prosperity.”