About 20,000 people have taken to the streets of Hong Kong in one of the
biggest demonstrations in recent years to protest against planned
anti-subversion legislation.
The protest snaking through the streets of Hong Kong to the territory’s
government headquarters was far larger than most people had expected.
The percentage of respondents who said they were “not worried” fell to 58
percent in November — the lowest level since Hong Kong returned to Chinese
rule — from 68 percent in August.
The survey found that those expressing their anxiety included foreigners
living in Hong Kong and business people.
Complaining about a lack of Chinese progress, Amnesty
International exhorted American diplomats Friday to set specific goals and
demand the release of political prisoners during a new round of human rights
talks in Beijing next week.
The plaintiffs accuse this senior Chinese politician of being the organizer
of the Chinese crackdown on Falun Gong members, who are regarded as the
members of a sect. Georges-Henri Beauthier, a Belgian lawyer specializing in
human rights law, has held a press conference in Paris.
She believes the only way she could return to China safely would be to
renounce her faith in Falun Gong — an option she won’t consider.
Her family has warned her that the authorities are compiling evidence
against her and would immediately arrest her if she came home.
With this legislation, “the shadow of the more restrictive practices of the People’s Republic of China appears to be looming,” said CPJ in the submission.China, the world’s leading jailer of journalists, currently holds 36 journalists in prison. Most imprisoned Chinese journalists are held on subversion or state secrets charges.
Human rights organizations fear that the proposals, if passed into law,
would undermine the existing human rights and civil liberties enjoyed by Hong Kong people and could be used against anyone China or Hong Kong
objects
to, including political dissidents and religious or spiritual groups
such as
Falun Gong — already outlawed on mainland China.
PARIS (AFP) – Four followers of the banned Falun Gong spiritual
group
have launched legal action in France against the Chinese Vice Premier Li
Lanqing, accusing him of torture, their lawyers said Saturday.
Falun Gong has become the major topic between the world and China regarding the issues of virtue and peace. China has been under overwhelming criticisms of the world media [because of the persecution of Falun Gong].
It revealed, among other things, that penalties for crimes against the
state
would be stiffened to include life imprisonment and that groups such as
Falun Gong, which remains legal in Hong Kong despite its illegal status
on
the mainland, could be banned.
Never mind that the typical
Falun Gong devotee is a little old lady practising deep breathing. Soon she
will be an enemy of the state in Hong Kong as well.
The 13 full-time professors criticised the consultation document, pointing out that the proposed legislation disregards the necessity for journalists to have the right to keep their news sources secret, and that it brushes aside the disparity in freedom of the press between the Mainland and Hong Kong, which blurs the ýone country, two systemsý policy.