Dozens of activists and opposition figures are awaiting trial under Hong Kong's national security law, which was imposed by Beijing in 2020 after the finance hub saw huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests.
Prosecutors have so far secured a 100 percent conviction rate under the security law, but officials argued that the rule change was needed to plug legal loopholes.
The new rules "prevent possible cases of miscarriage of justice", secretary for justice Paul Lam said Wednesday after the bill passed without opposition in the city's legislature -- which is stacked with Beijing loyalists.
A former British colony, Hong Kong follows the common law tradition that features jury trials and rules that forbid a court from trying a person twice for the same crime.
Under the new rules, if a security trial defendant is acquitted by the High Court, prosecutors can challenge the ruling and ask for a retrial.
If the appeal is granted, the case will be reheard at the High Court level, with the new verdict overriding the previous one.
Previously, prosecutors were barred from appealing certain types of acquittals. Defendants have the right to appeal their conviction and sentence at appellate courts.
Beyond national security cases, the amendment also affects ordinary criminal cases.
Under the new rules, if a High Court judge rules that a defendant can walk free because the case against them is too weak, prosecutors will now be permitted to contest those acquittals -- which are known as "no case to answer".
This will trigger a retrial if their challenge succeeds.
The new amendments also impose restrictions on media reporting on the appeal "to ensure a fair trial", though the limits could be "relaxed".
In an interview with Hong Kong's official broadcaster in May, Lam repeatedly denied that the government was stacking the deck against defendants in national security cases.
"We are simply trying to align the mechanism for High Court cases with those handled in lower courts," he said.
Government officials say defendants' rights to appeal remain intact, even with the amendments.
Under the national security law's stringent rules for bail, most defendants have been kept in custody even if their trial was not slated to begin for months.
Simon Young, a legal scholar at the University of Hong Kong, told AFP that the amendments meant "there would be a concern about the extended detention of the defendant" if their acquittal is appealed by prosecutors and they must wait for a retrial.
Hong Kong has so far convicted 79 people under the national security law.
The High Court is currently trying 47 pro-democracy figures for "conspiracy to commit subversion" -- the city's largest security trial yet.
The security trial of jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai and executives at his now-shuttered newspaper Apple Daily is expected to start later this year.
Both cases are being tried without a jury, upon request by the prosecution.
Hong Kong questions family of wanted activist Nathan Law: police source
Hong Kong (AFP) July 11, 2023 -
Hong Kong briefly took in three family members of exiled democracy activist Nathan Law for questioning on Tuesday, a week after authorities issued a bounty on him and seven others accused of breaching the city's national security law.
Police confirmed to AFP that its national security department took away two men and a woman for investigation, without naming them.
"They are suspected of assisting persons wanted by police to continue to commit acts and engage in activities that endanger national security," the police said in a statement.
Authorities last week offered rewards of HK$1 million ($128,000) for information leading to the arrests of eight prominent democracy activists now based abroad, accusing them of subversion, foreign collusion and other crimes.
A police source earlier told AFP that officers brought in Law's parents and elder brother without formally arresting them, adding that Law's flat was searched.
The trio were taken in so that police could "learn whether they have provided financial support for Law and whether they are Law's agents in Hong Kong," the source said.
"Law's family members were allowed to leave after giving statements to police."
Law, who was granted asylum in Britain in 2021, in a statement Tuesday evening denied any financial connection with the three people and said his work was "totally unrelated" to them.
"The idea of 'getting assistance from them' is completely absurd," Law told AFP.
City leader John Lee on Tuesday repeated his call to the public to stay away from the wanted activists and to treat them like "rats in the street".
"Police have received some information and will continue to gather intelligence, and enforce the law strictly and relentlessly," Lee told reporters.
The move on Tuesday came days after Hong Kong arrested five men for supporting the wanted activists.
Law had previously said in response to the bounties that Hong Kong abused the concept of national security to suppress dissident voices.
After fleeing Hong Kong, Law said in 2020 that he had cut ties with his family and that he was not in contact with them.
The United States, the United Kingdom and Australia -- where the eight wanted activists reside -- have issued statements criticising the bounties.
Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 following months of huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in the finance hub.
Police have arrested 260 people under the national security law so far, with 79 of them convicted or awaiting sentencing in Hong Kong.
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