There is a human rights crisis in Hong Kong due to the Beijing-imposed National Security Law passed in 2020, the Mainland Affairs Council said yesterday, as it discussed a report showing that the number of prisoners in the territory has risen by one-third since protests in 2019 against an extradition bill.
The Hong Kong Centre for Human Rights on Nov. 7 released a report on torture and inhumane treatment in Hong Kong, which was shared by the council on social media.
Under Hong Kong’s National Security Law, the territory’s pro-democracy parties have been purged, civil society and freedom of speech have been severely oppressed, and the number of prisoners has increased to 9,280, a record high over the past 10 years, the report said.
Photo: Bloomberg
The report highlighted police abuse, pretrial detention, mistreatment in prisons and other instances of torture and inhumane treatment.
The lack of an independent system to report such mistreatments has led to a systematic human rights crisis in Hong Kong, it said.
Since the 2019 protests, the number of incarcerated people in Hong Kong has increased by more than one-third, rising from 6,902 in 2020 to 9,280 this year, it said.
Pretrial detainees have more than doubled in the past 11 years, increasing from 1,561 in 2014 to 3,514 this year and now accounting for 38 percent of all prisoners in the territory, it said.
As of September, 69 percent of people arrested under the National Security Law have been denied bail and 34 of them have been imprisoned for more than 1,000 days, the report said.
The international community must take seriously China’s and Hong Kong’s use of state power and unofficial means to fight, intimidate and suppress human rights defenders, it added.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
RSS