The Hong Kong government has proposed raising the maximum penalty for sedition to seven years in jail, up from the current two years, while offenders found to have colluded with an “external force” in committing sedition may face a maximum of 10 years behind bars.
According to the proposed bill for the enactment of legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law – Hong Kong’s homegrown security law – “seditious intention” is defined as inciting hatred, contempt, or disaffection against China, its apparatuses in Hong Kong, and the city’s government and legal system.
It also includes the intention to cause hatred “amongst different classes of residents of [Hong Kong and China].”
If the Safeguarding National Security Bill passes the opposition-free legislature, anyone in possession of a “publication that has a seditious intention” without a “reasonable excuse” could face up to three years in jail.
Under current law, sedition carries a maximum jail term of two years in prison for a first offence. It was based on colonial-era legislations – last amended in the 1970s when Hong Kong was still a British colony.
The bill also specifies that the prosecution does not have to prove that those suspected of committing sedition intended to incite public disorder or violence. On Thursday, Hong Kong’s Court of Appeal arrived at a similar judgement in rejecting pro-democracy activist “Fast beat” Tam Tak-chi’s appeal against his sedition conviction.
See also: Hong Kong’s sedition law – a colonial relic revived after half a century
The sedition law, one of Hong Kong’s legacies from the British colonial government, was unused for over half a century until its revival in the aftermath of the 2019 extradition bill protests and unrest and the Beijing-imposed security law in 2020.
The Legislative Council convened a special meeting on Friday morning for the first reading of the Safeguarding National Security Bill – known locally as Article 23.
The introduction of the bill came just nine days after the end of a one-month public consultation period, which prompted more than 13,000 submissions, 97 per cent of which expressed support for the new security law, according to the government.
China’s Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang urged a swift enactment of legislation under Article 23 of Hong Kong’s mini-constitution on Thursday, as he held talks with the city’s deputies to the National People’s Congress, China’s legislature.
Article 23 of the Basic Law stipulates that the government shall enact laws on its own to prohibit acts of treason, secession, sedition and subversion against Beijing. Its legislation failed in 2003 following mass protests and it remained taboo until after the onset of the separate, Beijing-imposed security law in 2020. Pro-democracy advocates fear it could have a negative effect on civil liberties but the authorities say there is a constitutional duty to ratify it.
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