Hong Kong police gets sweeping surveillance powers under national security law

China’s new security law has granted Hong Kong police vast power to conduct raids and surveillance and control online information on “reasonable grounds”. The vast power and lack of judicial oversight, unveiled in the provisions of the law, have paved the way for arbitrary detentions, sweeping surveillance on voices of dissent.

Hong Kong police chief can now control and remove online information if there are “reasonable grounds” to suspect the content violates the law. The draconian law has prompted Facebook and WhatsApp to stop responding to government requests about user data in Hong Kong. Whatsapp said that it is reviewing the full extent of the new security law while its parent company has cited freedom of expression to suspend processing the requests.

The legislation didn’t take any effort to define “reasonable grounds” and “special circumstances” to snatch away the rights of people of Hong Kong. The national security law allows crackdown on four offences namely subversion, secession, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces. The police will be able to conduct a search without a warrant in case of an “urgent” threat to national security.

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Censorship on books

Education in Hong Kong has become one of the latest victims of China’s national security law as the administration ordered schools to review and remove books violating the legislation. Hong Kong’s Education Bureau said in a statement that the school management and teachers should review teaching and learning materials in a timely manner, including books.

"In accordance with the four types of offences clearly stipulated in the law...If they find outdated content or content that may concern the four aforementioned offences, they should remove them," said the bureau.

The draconian law has already resulted in the mysterious disappearance of books, written by Hong Kong pro-democracy activists, from libraries across the city. Among the authors whose books seem to have disappeared from the shelves of libraries is Joshua Wong, one of the city’s most notable pro-democracy activists.

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(Image: AP)