Amnesty International, a human rights non-profit organisation, said on Monday, 25 October, that it plans to shut down its offices in Hong Kong due to the effects of the national security law enacted by China in June 2020, Reuters reported.
Amnesty is originally headquartered in the United Kingdom.
Amnesty's statement said that the law had made it "effectively impossible" for the NGO to work freely without risking vindictive and punitive actions by the government of Hong Kong.
The chairperson of the group's international board, Anjhula Mya Singh Bais, stated that both its offices in Hong Kong would shut by the end of 2021.
The crackdown that has ensued on pro-democracy and human rights groups with the backing of the new security has already led to least 35 such groups being disbanded this year alone, Reuters added.
The controversial law criminalises any act of secession, terrorism, or what it calls collusion with external forces, BBC reported.
While Beijing has assured Hong Kong that the rights of its people will not be taken away and that the law was essential for national security, many perceive this law as the beginning of the end of all the freedoms and liberties that were present in Hong Kong's society, a stark contrast to Chinese society.
Professor Johannes Chan, who teaches law at the University of Hong Kong, told the BBC even before the law was passed that it was quite evident "that the law will have a severe impact on freedom of expression, if not personal security, on the people of Hong Kong."
Amnesty has now joined the long list of organisations in Hong Kong whose functioning has been hindered by the law.
"Its sweeping and vaguely worded definition of 'national security'... has been used arbitrarily as a pretext to restrict human rights," read Amnesty's statement, as quoted by Reuters.
(With inputs from Reuters and BBC.)
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