Changes to Hong Kong’s implementation rules for the national security law will improve operational efficiency amid heightened geopolitical risks, experts have said. A legal expert and a former security minister said the amendments aimed to clearly lay out investigation procedures for searches under existing national security law powers, while an academic argued the move was…
Hong Kong’s top decision-making body has held 25 per cent fewer meetings in the first 3½ years of the current administration compared with the previous two governments, the South China Morning Post has found, with the group’s secretariat urging the public to focus on “outcomes of the work” rather than on the number of gatherings….
Hong Kong should make bid-rigging a crime in the wake of the city’s deadliest fire in decades, a local think tank has urged, echoing a similar call from the city’s barristers. The proposal by the POD Research Institute came after the Hong Kong Bar Association formed a task force to review existing legislation following the…
The court’s verdict in former Hong Kong media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying’s trial has shed light on the ways in which implicit acts and actions taken before the national security law came into effect may constitute criminal offences, legal experts have said. Lai, 78, was found guilty on all three charges he faced under the…
Some Hongkongers have said they took part in the Legislative Council election out of a sense of civic duty, while others were drawn by company benefits, retail discounts and souvenirs offered to holders of voting thank-you cards arranged by the government to boost turnout. According to the Post’s observation at more than 10 polling stations…
An independent review committee tasked with probing the deadly fire in Hong Kong that has so far claimed 156 lives has no legal power to compel and protect witnesses, but may yield faster results of comparable quality to a statutory commission, experts say. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu on Tuesday ordered a judge-led independent investigation…
A proposed piece of legislation by the Hong Kong government to recognise same-sex partnerships is set to be the first bill the legislature will reject since Beijing overhauled the city’s electoral system in 2021 to ensure only “patriots” held political power. The new law, opposed by the major political parties, was the government’s response to…
Uncertainty surrounding escalating US-China tensions and a “relatively muted society” may have prompted Hong Kong authorities to propose new subsidiary legislation for safeguarding national security, observers have said, although they dismissed speculation the law targets ongoing high-profile cases. In addition, a legal scholar called for more procedural clarity when introducing bills, particularly in circumstances when…