Amnesty to withdraw from Hong Kong office after 40 years of Hong Kong security law threat

Amnesty International, a human rights group, announced on the 25th that it was closing its Hong Kong office due to threats under the Hong Kong National Security Law (HKFP) and AFP news agency Hong Kong Free Press (HKFP) and AFP news agency reported on the 25th.

“I am making this decision with a heavy heart because of the Hong Kong security law,” said Anhula Miya Singh Weiss, Amnesty International’s director, in a statement. It has become virtually impossible,” he said.

Amnesty International has operated two offices in Hong Kong for over 40 years.

One is the Hong Kong office focusing on human rights in Hong Kong, and the other is the regional office that has been carrying out research activities and human rights protection activities covering East Asia, Southeast Asia and the Pacific region.

The Hong Kong office will be withdrawn on the 31st, the regional office will be withdrawn by the end of this year, and the two offices will be relocated to other regions in the Asia-Pacific region.

“Hong Kong has long been an ideal regional headquarters for international civil society organizations, but recent moves targeting human rights groups and unions show that the authorities’ campaign to eliminate all dissent in Hong Kong is intensifying,” Weiss said. It’s getting harder and harder to keep working at the

“It has become impossible to know which activities constitute a crime in Hong Kong,” he said. show,” he criticized.

The Hong Kong Security Law, which went into effect on June 30 last year, makes it possible to punish four crimes with a maximum sentence of life imprisonment: division of the state, overthrow of the state government, terrorist activities and collusion with foreign powers.

According to a recent Bloomberg report, as of this month, more than 150 people, including major democrats, have been arrested on charges of violating the Hong Kong security law.

Meanwhile, the US non-governmental organization (NGO) Human Rights Watch (HRW) withdrew from Hong Kong after the Chinese government imposed sanctions on its leadership in late July, The New York Times reported.

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