Hong Kong asks British human rights NGO to shut down its site

This is the first time Hong Kong has targeted an overseas-based organization with the national security law.

Here, a street in the territory, March 13, 2022. © Peter Parks, AFP

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In a new application of the national security law imposed by Beijing, the Hong Kong government has asked an overseas-based group to shut down its website: the UK-based rights NGO Hong KongWatch.

Accused of endangering Chinese national security, the group pledged Monday, March 14 not to remain silent.

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This is the first time that a foreign NGO has confirmed that it has been targeted by

the national security law

.

This was imposed by Beijing in 2020 to

stifle any dissent in the territory

.

The Hong Kong Security Bureau accused the group of " 

colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security

 ," according to a March 10 email, which Hong Kong Watch published in full on its website Monday.

The crime,

one of four under the National Security Act

, carries penalties of up to life in prison.

By threatening a UK-based NGO with financial penalties and imprisonment for merely reporting on the human rights situation in Hong Kong, this letter illustrates how Hong Kong's national security law is so dangerous

 ,” said Benedict Rogers, group chief executive.

“ 

Other measures will be taken

 ”, in the event of non-compliance, warns Hong Kong

We will not be silenced by an authoritarian security apparatus which, through a mixture of senseless brutality and ineptitude, has triggered mass and rapid migration out of the city and muzzled civil society

 ," the activist added. , banned from visiting Hong Kong since 2017.

Our co-founder & CEO @benedictrogers has been threatened by #HongKong Police under #NationalSecurityLaw, requiring removal of our website



We will not remove our website.

We will not be silenced.



Here's our statement, with comments from Patrons & othershttps://t.co/KDrurATEKZ

— Hong Kong Watch (@hk_watch) March 14, 2022

In its email, the Security Bureau claims that " 

Hong Kong Watch has pressured foreign countries to impose sanctions or a blockade on China and Hong Kong

 ."

Hong Kong's police chief had also sent a notice the same day, asking the group to remove all posts from its website.

“ 

If you fail to do so, further action will be taken (…) without further notice

 ,” the email warns.

Founded in 2017, Hong Kong Watch says it monitors " 

threats to fundamental freedoms, the rule of law and autonomy in Hong Kong

 ".

Since February, the organization's site has already been inaccessible to users from Hong Kong.

(with AFP)

To read also: 

Elections in Hong Kong: how Beijing destroyed the local political system

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