Hong Kong limits visits to detainees in the name of security

Hong Kong authorities have introduced new prison rules that could limit inmates' right to receive visits from certain people, such as lawyers, in a change prompted by "national security risks", media in the territory reported.

The Chinese region's prison population has soared in recent years after authorities detained more than 10,000 people in connection with pro-democracy protests in 2019 .

A year later, Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong, and in 2024 the territory drafted its own security legislation.

“ The risks to national security persist. It is necessary to amend [prison rules] as soon as possible, ” Hong Kong authorities wrote in the proposal submitted Thursday to the Legislative Council, the local parliament, according to the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency.

The current visiting system has been used to incite detainees to resistance , authorities said.

The proposed law would ban visits by certain lawyers, restrictions identical to those in force in the United States, Great Britain and Australia, the Hong Kong government said.

The proposed rules, however, would require prison officials to apply for court orders to restrict visits to detainees by specific lawyers and doctors on the grounds of safeguarding national security, local newspaper South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported.

“There have been cases in the past where the visiting mechanism has been abused by some individuals who have used humanitarian aid as a pretext to visit [with the aim of] influencing detainees with subtle tactics ,” the authorities said in the document, according to the Hong Kong English-language newspaper.

However, authorities said inmates would still have access to confidential legal advice and receive additional lawyers and doctors of their choosing under the new changes. Inmates could also appeal the warrant, SCMP wrote.

“A past incident in which [a detainee] handed over unauthorized items to his lawyer to take out of prison during a legal visit raised public concern about the risk of abuse of the legal visit system” under existing rules, the government of the neighboring city of Macau said.

Authorities appear to be referring to detained pro-democracy activist Owen Chow and lawyer Phyllis Woo, both found guilty last year of collecting and taking out of prison a letter of complaint without approval from the Correctional Services Department (CSD) in 2023, the Hong Kong Free Press reported.

The proposed text, according to the media, also foresees the suppression of the right to “personal clothing” and a specific diet.

Hong Kong, with around 7.5 million inhabitants, had more than ten thousand people detained in March, of which 3,900 were in pre-trial detention .

In April last year, Hong Kong's justice system sentenced Portuguese national Joseph John to five years in prison for inciting subversion, in the territory's first national security case involving a defendant with dual nationality.

Authorities have for years been cracking down on small groups that provide material and psychological support to detained opponents. One organization involved in such activity, Wall-Fare, was shut down in 2021 after the city's security chief accused it of undermining national security.