trafficking, had his prison sentence increased In October the Legislative Council passed a to a death sentence during a one-day retrial. law allowing the government to censor films The trial coincided with a diplomatic dispute deemed to “endanger national security”. between Canada and China. NATIONAL SECURITY LAW As in previous years, Amnesty The National Security Law (NSL) introduced International’s monitoring suggested that the in 2020 enabled human rights violations that death penalty was mostly used to punish were unprecedented since the establishment murder and drug-related offences, out of the of the Hong Kong Special Administrative 46 offences for which it remained applicable. Region in 1997. There was a rapid Among these were many non-violent acts that deterioration of freedom of expression, do not meet the threshold of the “most peaceful assembly and association, and other serious crimes” under international law and human rights in Hong Kong after the standards. Two Uyghur ex-government enactment of the law.9 At least 61 civil society officials were sentenced to death in Xinjiang, organizations disbanded in response to the where the death penalty was known to have threat generated by the law, including Hong been used secretively after grossly unfair Kong’s largest professional union and proceedings in previous years. organizers of major peaceful protests. The political opposition in Hong Kong was LGBTI PEOPLE’S RIGHTS effectively obliterated following the arrest of The National Radio and Television 55 people, mainly pro-democracy lawmakers Administration, China’s main television and activists, under the NSL on 6 January. regulator, ordered broadcasters to ban all so- There was clear evidence that the human called “sissy” (effeminate) men from rights safeguards set out in the NSL were television, a continuation of a nationwide effectively useless. Peaceful political campaign to “clean” the internet of LGBTI expression was disproportionately restricted representation. The new rules included and even criminalized under the NSL. The shutting down content considered “harmful” prosecution used incidents preceding to young people and encouraging “extreme” enactment of the law as evidence when fan culture. In July, dozens of LGBTI pressing NSL charges, contradicting the legal organizations’ social media accounts were principle of non-retroactivity. Article 42 of the shut down by the authorities. In an NSL stipulates that individuals suspected of announcement issued by the National Radio violating the NSL are to be denied bail and Television Administration in September, “unless the judge has sufficient grounds for non-traditional gender roles and LGBTI believing that they will not continue to people were described as “abnormal” and commit acts endangering national security”. “vulgar”. This effective reversal of the presumption of HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE bail violates core principles of the rights to a REGION fair trial and to liberty and security of person. Between 1 July 2020 and the end of 2021, Throughout the year the authorities rapidly police arrested or ordered the arrest of at expanded the national security legal regime least 161 people in relation to the NSL. At in Hong Kong, further extending the least 82 people were formally charged, of application of the overly broad definition of whom 60 were in pretrial detention at the end “endangering national security” to of the year. disproportionately restrict human rights. In FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY AND ASSOCIATION March, mainland China’s legislature passed a The authorities used other repressive laws, decision to reduce directly elected seats in such as the Public Order Ordinance, to the Legislative Council elections in Hong prosecute and imprison activists for taking Kong and allow national security police to vet part in peaceful assemblies and exercising all candidates before they run for elections. their right to freedom of expression. Police Amnesty International Report 2021/22 128