Hong Kong Watch, of which Fiona is a Patron, has received a formal warning from the Hong Kong Police Force’s National Security Department regarding its website possibly breaching the National Security Law. This makes Hong Kong Watch one of the first foreign organisations to be targeted under the draconian law.
In the letter and subsequent email, addressed to Hong Kong Watch’s Chief Executive Benedict Rogers, the National Security Department accuses Hong Kong Watch of:
‘Engaging in activities seriously interfering in the affairs of the HKSAR and jeopardising national security of the People’s Republic of China. Such acts and activities, including lobbying foreign countries to impose sanctions or blockade and engage in other hostile activities against the People’s Republic of China or the HKSAR, and seriously disrupting the formulation and implementation of laws or policies by the HKSAR Government or by the Central People’s Government.’
The letter accuses Hong Kong Watch of violating Article 29 of the National Security Law, which criminalises collusion with foreign forces to endanger national security. It warns that Hong Kong Watch could face a fine of HK$100,000 or its Chief Executive could face three years in jail for the offence.
As a result of this accusation, the Hong Kong Police in its letter has confirmed that it is using the National Security Law to block Hong Kong Watch’s website in Hong Kong, which was previously reported in early February 2022.
Since the National Security Law came into force in July 2020, over 50 civil society organisations have been forced to close in Hong Kong. The full letter from the Hong Kong Police can be read below.
Lord Patten of Barnes, the last British Governor of Hong Kong and a patron of Hong Kong Watch, commenting on the letter said:
“This is another disgraceful example of Mr Putin’s friends in Beijing and their quislings in Hong Kong trying not only to stamp out freedom of expression and information in Hong Kong but also to internationalise their campaign against evidence, freedom and honesty.”
Commenting on the letter and email, Hong Kong Watch’s Chief Executive, Benedict Rogers, said:
"By threatening a UK-based NGO with financial penalties and jail for merely reporting on the human rights situation in Hong Kong, this letter exemplifies why Hong Kong's National Security Law is so dangerous.
We will not be silenced by an authoritarian security apparatus which, through a mixture of senseless brutality and ineptitude, has triggered rapid mass migration out of the city and shut down civil society.
Irrespective of this attempt to intimidate our staff and censor our website in Hong Kong, we will continue to be a voice for the people of Hong Kong and those brave political prisoners who have been jailed under this authoritarian regime. We will redouble our efforts to expand lifeboat schemes for those not covered by BNO and will continue to call for Hong Kong officials to face sanctions for their destruction of the city’s autonomy and freedom. The irony is that many of Hong Kong’s police officers and government officials today hold foreign passports, send their children to be educated in the West, and have their savings held in Western banks overseas to avoid Xi Jinping’s ongoing “corruption” crackdowns - and so the likelihood is that these sanctions would be quite effective.”