Responding to the reported arrest of five people in police raids on two independent bookstores in Hong Kong today, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director Sarah Brooks said:
“This year’s escalating attacks on Hong Kong’s independent bookstores hammer home the chilling reality of what the city has become: a place where you can be criminalized simply for what’s on your bookshelf.
“Booksellers should never face arrest simply for doing their jobs: selling, publishing or distributing books. The use of ‘sedition’ offences to target bookstores once again demonstrates how Hong Kong’s national security framework is being weaponized to silence dissenting voices and eradicate spaces for free thought and debate.
“The growing uncertainty over so-called ‘red lines’ for booksellers leaves publishers and writers guessing which titles could lead to criminal investigation, arrest or closure. Such ambiguity is intentional: fueling fear and self-censorship, with devastating consequences for freedom of expression.
“Hong Kong’s authorities must immediately stop using national security and sedition laws to criminalize the peaceful exercise of human rights, and ensure that everyone in Hong Kong can access, publish and share ideas without fear of arrest.”
