Hong Kong’s homegrown security law would include a public interest defence for certain offences related to the theft of state secrets, a draft of the proposed legislation has revealed. According to the draft bill published on Friday morning, a person facing charges under three types of state secrets offences – unlawful acquisition, unlawful possession and unlawful disclosure – may invoke the defence that they had made “a specified disclosure.” The bill defines a “specified disclosure” as one where the purpose of the disclosure is to reveal a threat to public order, safety, or health; that the …
