Rights Groups Reveal Hong Kong’s Repression of Freedom Following National Security Law’s Implementation

Jul 1, 2025 - 10:04 Updated: Jul 1, 2025 - 09:52

Rights Groups Reveal Hong Kong’s Repression of Freedom Following National Security Law’s Implementation

Two human rights organizations have raised concerns about the significant changes in Hong Kong over the past five years since Beijing enacted a draconian national security law on the city, which came in response to a pro-democracy, anti-Chinese Communist Party (CCP) movement that drew millions of protesters into the streets for months.

New York-based Human Rights Watch and London-based Amnesty International decried the Hong Kong government’s use of the law to silence dissent and deprive locals of their basic rights, according to their newly released reports.

“In just five years, the Chinese government has extinguished Hong Kong’s political and civil vibrancy and replaced it with the uniformity of enforced patriotism,” Maya Wang, associate China director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement on June 29.

“This heightened oppression may have dire long-term consequences for Hong Kong, even though many Hong Kongers have found subtle ways to resist tyrannical rule.”

Sarah Brooks, China director of Amnesty International, said in a statement on June 30 that the Hong Kong government “must stop using the pretext of ‘national security’ to punish legitimate expression.”

“This draconian law, and the other national security legislation it spawned, has corroded key legal safeguards that once formed the foundation for protecting human rights and the rule of law in Hong Kong,” Brooks said.

“The result has been a devastation of Hongkongers’ ability to express themselves without fear of arrest.”

About 1 million people hit the streets in Hong Kong to protest against a controversial extradition bill on June 9, 2019, marking the start of the movement. A week later, another protest drew approximately 2 million people, which was the largest demonstration in the city’s history.

To quell the street protests, the Chinese regime bypassed Hong Kong’s legislature and imposed the national security law on the city on June 30, 2020, which punishes vaguely defined crimes such as secession and subversion with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

In March last year, the Hong Kong government further tightened control on the city after passing a sweeping new national security legislation known as Article 23. The law targets political crimes such as treason and insurrection, which may be punished by life imprisonment.

Since the national security law went into effect, 332 people have been arrested for offenses related to national security, with 189 people and five companies charged, according to Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council.

‘Fear and Self-Censorship’

Amnesty International’s report reviewed 255 individuals arrested or charged under Hong Kong’s national security framework—which comprises the national security law, Article 23, and the city’s colonial-era sedition law—between June 30, 2020, and May 31 this year.

Among the 78 cases under the national security law, the report found that at least 66 cases, or 84.6 percent, involved “only legitimate expression that should not have been criminalized.” A similar percentage, or 85 percent, was found when considering all cases connected to Article 23 and the sedition law.

Hong Kong courts denied bail in 129 national security cases in which individuals were charged, or 89 percent of all cases.

Of the 129 cases, the average length of pre-trial detention was 328 days or about 10.8 months.

“Taken together, these findings show that the implementation of national security legislation in Hong Kong has violated international human rights law and standards, including freedom of expression and right to liberty,” the report reads.

The report highlights the case of Jimmy Lai, a British national and the founder of the now-defunct newspaper Apple Daily, saying that he was held in pre-trial detention for 1,093 days before his trial began in December 2023.

Lai has been imprisoned in Hong Kong since December 2020, and his national security trial is scheduled to resume in July.

Amnesty said Lai and six former Apple Daily staff members “were targeted for their journalistic works,” as prosecutors accused them of using the newspaper to publish “161 seditious articles.”

“Notwithstanding the guilty pleas, Amnesty International considers that none of the charges against these seven individuals should ever have been brought in the first place, as they relate to legitimate exercises of freedom of expression with no incitement to violence,” the report reads.

The report also points to the case of Ma Chun-man, a former deliveryman, who was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison in 2021 for incitement to secession under the national security law.

Amnesty argued that Ma should not be criminalized for incitement based on his speech since he was usually alone when he shouted slogans such as “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times.” At times when there were bystanders near him, they “showed little response and were often silent,” it said. Additionally, the report points out that Ma was not a member of any political party or took part in any election, thus lacking influence.

Hong Kong’s national security framework is being “systematically misused to suppress dissent,” and it “fosters a climate of fear and self-censorship,” according to the report.

“Peaceful protest and political expression—cornerstones of a free society—are now treated as threats,” it reads.

‘Patriots Only’

The Human Rights Watch report found that Hong Kong has increasingly been ruled under “one country, one system,” after Beijing announced the so-called institutional reforms in 2023, allowing the CCP to be “effectively running the city.”

A former British colony, Hong Kong was handed back to Chinese rule in 1997, with Beijing promising to guarantee the city basic freedoms and autonomy unavailable in the mainland, under the “one country, two systems” framework.

Hong Kong authorities have also been “rewriting history,” including ongoing efforts to call the pro-democracy, anti-CCP movement a “black-clad riot” instigated by “foreign proxies,” according to the report.

Another example in the report is the 2022 release of four sets of textbooks by Hong Kong’s education bureau, which denied that the city was once a British colony.

Hong Kong has revised its education system to impose ideological control on students from kindergarten to university, the report said, with one example being that secondary school students learn about Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s communist ideology.

“Xi Jinping Thought,” encapsulated in a collection of writings and speeches given by the CCP’s top leader, was written into the Party’s charter in 2017. In August 2021, China’s education bureau began requiring students from grade school to university to learn them.

In 2023, the Hong Kong authorities eliminated a secondary school subject called Liberal Studies and replaced it with one that fosters patriotism and requires trips to China, according to the report.

The Hong Kong government has also been transforming the city into a place for “Patriots Only,” according to the report, with one example being new amendments added to the city’s labor unions laws earlier this year, banning people convicted of national security offenses from serving in labor unions.

Another “Patriots Only” example is that teachers at kindergartens and publicly-funded primary and secondary schools are required to pass a test on national security laws beginning in 2023.

“Governments should press the Chinese government to end its repressive policies in Hong Kong by holding responsible officials to account,” Wang said.

“Beijing should no longer feel emboldened to tighten its grip on Hong Kong people without consequences.”

On June 30, the European Union External Action, the diplomatic arm of the EU, issued a statement calling on the Hong Kong authorities to “shift their emphasis towards reconciliation in Hong Kong society.”

“The repressive use of the National Security Law has undermined confidence in the rule of law and Hong Kong’s international reputation,” the EU body wrote.