Source: Hong Kong Government special administrative region
The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) today (September 12) expressed strong dissatisfaction with and resolute opposition to, and strongly condemned, various western countries, anti-China media, overseas organisations, politicians and others who launched various malicious attacks, smears and slanders following the sentences handed down strictly in accordance with the law by the HKSAR Court on the defendants in the incitement to subversion case of the “Hong Kong Alliance”.
A spokesman for the HKSAR Government pointed out, “In response to lies and scaremongering remarks fabricated by certain individuals who exploited national security offence cases, including the present one, to launch attacks against the situations of the HKSAR including rule of law and human rights, the HKSAR Government hereby sets out the facts again to set the record straight. First of all, the HKSAR Government has pointed out on multiple occasions that human rights in Hong Kong have always been robustly guaranteed constitutionally by both the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China (the Constitution) and the Basic Law. Article 4 of the Hong Kong National Security Law (HKNSL) and section 2 of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance clearly stipulate that human rights shall be respected and protected in safeguarding national security in the HKSAR, and that the rights and freedoms, including the freedoms of speech, of the press, of publication, of association, of assembly, of procession and of demonstration that Hong Kong residents enjoy under the Basic Law and the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as applied to Hong Kong, shall be protected in accordance with the law. Nonetheless, just as the case with other places in the world, such rights and freedoms are not absolute. The ICCPR also expressly states that certain rights and freedoms, including freedom of speech, may be subject to restrictions as prescribed by law that are necessary for the protection of national security, public safety, public order or the rights and freedoms of others, etc.