Hong Kong authorities have condemned a recent report by Amnesty International accusing local prisons of being “rife with violence and inhumane treatment.”
A Correctional Services Department vehicle. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.The Amnesty report, released on Wednesday, was described by the Correctional Services Department (CSD) as “fact-twisting” and intended to “smear” legitimate custodial management.
In a statement issued on Thursday evening, the CSD criticised the human rights NGO – which withdrew from Hong Kong in 2021, citing the national security law – as an “anti-China” organisation.
Amnesty’s “so-called research” relied on “lies told by anti-China fugitives,” the CSD said, adding that its full written response had been excluded to present a “distorted picture.”
Amnesty accused the Hong Kong authorities of subjecting inmates to “extreme heat, filthy conditions and violent punishment.” The NGO cited testimony from wanted activist Tony Chung, who alleged that corrections officers would strike inmates’ shoulder blades, leaving visible bruises.
The report also quoted Edmund “Giggs” Wan, an online radio host jailed in 2022, who described the cells in Stanley Prison as “an oven” during summer.
Former lawmaker Fernando Cheung, who left Hong Kong in 2022 and is now a board member of Amnesty International Hong Kong Overseas, said he was “required by officers” to sign documents that “voluntarily” requested solitary confinement while being held at Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre.
On Thursday, the CSD said that any officer found to have used undue force would be in breach of disciplinary codes and potentially face criminal liability.
The department pointed to measures already undertaken to improve prison conditions, such as installing fans, upgrading ventilation systems, and providing cooling towels.
Shek Pik Prison. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.Regarding allegations of cockroaches crawling on detainees, the CSD said “the highest possible degree of cleanliness” is maintained through regular pest-control and rodent-eradication work.
“The CSD once again strongly condemns Amnesty International for spreading false and biased accusations and deliberately discrediting the CSD in properly carrying out its duties in the management of correctional institutions,” it said, adding that detainees may lodge formal complaints through the department or the Office of the Ombudsman.
G7 statement on Jimmy LaiSeparately on Thursday, the Hong Kong government hit out at foreign ministers from the G7 nations and the European Union (EU) after they issued a joint statement condemning the conviction of media mogul Jimmy Lai.
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, the US and the EU said they “continue to express our concerns about deteriorating rights, freedoms and autonomy in Hong Kong.”
Jimmy Lai in 2020. Photo: HKFP.According to the Hong Kong government, safeguarding national security is a sovereign “inherent right” and standard international practice. The nations criticising the verdict – such as the UK, US, and Canada – have their own legislation targeting foreign interference.
The Hong Kong government added that these countries “showed no respect” for the Department of Justice or the local courts, which handled the case “independently and strictly on the basis of facts and evidence.”
See also: In full: The 855-page guilty verdict against media tycoon Jimmy Lai
“What these countries have done in this case is a true reflection of their bullying behaviour all along, which is extremely ugly and despicable,” the government statement read.
The 78-year-old Apple Daily founder faces life in prison after being found guilty on Monday of two counts of conspiring to collude with foreign forces under the Beijing-imposed national security law, and a third count of sedition under colonial-era legislation.
Lai’s three companies – Apple Daily Ltd, Apple Daily Printing Ltd, and AD Internet Ltd – were also convicted of two counts: a conspiracy to publish seditious publications and a conspiracy to commit foreign collusion.
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