Ireland suspends extradition arrangements with Hong Kong

Ireland is the latest country to suspend its extradition treaty with Hong Kong in response to the passing of China’s new controversial National Security Law. The new law criminalises, among other things, acts of subversion or undermining the power of authority of central government. The maximum sentence for subversion is life imprisonment. The law also introduces wide ranging and draconian surveillance powers.

Irish Foreign Affairs Minister, Simon Coveney, said in the Dáil (Irish Parliament), that the move signals the Irish Government’s “concerns in relation to the rule of law in Hong Kong and the erosion of judicial independence promised under the ‘one country, two systems’ principle.”