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Following is a question by the Hon Christopher Chung and a written reply by the Secretary for Security, Mr Lai Tung-kwok, in the Legislative Council today (April 22):
Question:
It has been reported that some people have recently distributed flyers to Indonesian domestic helpers (IDHs) at locations where IDHs gather during holidays, recruiting them to join the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), an international radical organisation, and claiming that after joining the organisation, they will be sent to carry out "missions" in Xinjiang. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) whether it has assessed if the following acts are illegal: (i) openly pledging one's allegiance to ISIL, (ii) openly claiming one's membership of that organisation, (iii) propagating that organisation's doctrines and propositions, and (iv) persuading others to join that organisation; if such acts are illegal, of the details of the relevant legal provisions; of the respective numbers of Hong Kong residents, visitors and expatriates living in Hong Kong arrested in the past two years for committing such acts;
(2) whether the authorities will, in response to the aforesaid incident, consider rolling out publicity and education work for the purpose of appealing to IDHs in Hong Kong to refrain from joining ISIL and to report to the Police any person suspected of recruiting members for that organisation;
(3) of the number of visitors entering the territory from ISIL-controlled areas in each of the past three years, and whether it knows the number of Hong Kong residents travelling to those areas in each of the past three years;
(4) given that some Western countries have now implemented departure restrictions prohibiting their nationals from going to ISIL-controlled areas to prevent them from joining that organisation, whether similar departure restrictions are currently imposed in Hong Kong; if so, of the details; if not, whether the authorities will explore the imposition of such restrictions;
(5) as it has been reported that ISIL has become increasingly active around the world, whether the Security Bureau and the Police have formulated corresponding measures to closely monitor and guard against the infiltration of ISIL members into Hong Kong; and
(6) whether it knows the number of terrorist organisations currently carrying out activities in Hong Kong; of the main channels through which the Government gathers intelligence relating to terrorist organisations?
Reply:
President,
Our consolidated reply to various parts of the question is as follows:
Hong Kong has a strong legal framework and law enforcement capacity to prevent and tackle terrorism. Various terrorist acts, as well as the collection of funds, supply of weapons and recruitment of members etc. for terrorists and terrorist bodies are punishable under various ordinances. Among them, the United Nations (Anti-Terrorism Measures) Ordinance (the Ordinance) (Cap. 575) provides that the authority may, from time to time, specify terrorists and terrorist bodies in accordance with the latest announcement of the United Nations. The Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant has been specified as a terrorist body under the Ordinance. According to section 10 of the Ordinance, a person commits an offence if he becomes a member or recruits another person to become a member of a specified body, and is liable to imprisonment for seven years on conviction. Section 3 of the Ordinance stipulates that such an offence applies to a Hong Kong permanent resident outside Hong Kong. In other words, it is against the law for a Hong Kong citizen to join in any places such terrorist bodies as a member.
Strengthening counter-terrorism work is one of the operational priorities of the Commissioner of Police in 2015. The Hong Kong Police Force (the Police), will continue to monitor trends of terrorist activities to ensure readiness at all times. They will also provide security advice for critical infrastructure and sensitive premises, and arrange counter-terrorism patrols. The Police will also conduct training and multi-agency exercises regularly to practise and enhance counter-terrorism contingency plans to prepare for emergencies.
The Police have been conducting timely assessments of the terrorist threat for Hong Kong, and maintaining close liaison with law enforcement agencies of other regions to exchange intelligence and threat assessments. At present, there is no specific intelligence suggesting that Hong Kong is a potential target of terrorist attack, and the threat of terrorist attacks for Hong Kong remains at the "moderate" level. No one was arrested for terrorist activities during the past two years. If any unlawful acts are identified, the Police will take resolute enforcement actions.
Further, Article 154(2) of the Basic Law stipulates that the Hong Kong Government may apply immigration controls on entry into, stay in and departure from the Hong Kong by persons from foreign states and regions. In handling immigration cases, the Immigration Department (ImmD) will, having regard to the circumstances of the visitor concerned and all relevant factors in each case, decide whether the entry will be allowed in accordance with Hong Kong law and the prevailing immigration policies. If a visitor does not satisfy the immigration requirements, officers of the ImmD may refuse his entry into Hong Kong after examination of the visitor. The ImmD does not maintain statistics mentioned in part (3) of the question.
Ends/Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Issued at HKT 16:12
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