Hong Kong Watch Briefing on Human Rights Developments: May 2026

This briefing describes developments in Hong Kong in May 2026 focusing on the rapid deterioration of human rights in the city following the imposition of the National Security Law and the passage of Safeguarding National Security Ordinance.

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Executive Summary

May 2026 brought landmark convictions and sustained pressure on independent media and civil society in Hong Kong in the run-up to the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

In the most significant legal development of the month, a London jury convicted two men for assisting China with spying in the first such convictions in British criminal history, establishing judicially that the London Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office served as a base for transnational repression on British soil. A Hong Kong Watch survey found two-thirds of Hong Kongers in the UK feel at risk of such repression, while a wanted Hong Kong activist faced deportation from Thailand to mainland China, illustrating the reach of Hong Kong’s national security apparatus into a third country.

The Alliance subversion trial concluded its closing arguments, with a verdict expected in mid-to-late July for Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan, who face up to ten years’ imprisonment for the Alliance’s slogans and commemorations. Joshua Wong’s second national security case was transferred to the High Court, where he faces up to life imprisonment, while a construction worker and a 67-year-old man received sentences for election-related sedition, continuing a pattern of prosecutions against ordinary residents for political expression.

Press freedom came under renewed strain. Veteran journalist and former press-union chair Ronson Chan was jailed on appeal, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club found two-thirds of its members reported a worsening working environment, the journalists’ union was hit with a HK$730,000 prepaid-tax demand, and Hong Kong officials publicly attacked Reporters Without Borders over its ranking of the city 140th of 180 globally. The government injected a further HK$5 billion into its confidential national security fund, bringing the total to HK$18 billion with no public accounting.

香港監察香港人權狀況簡報：2026年5月

香港人權狀況在《國家安全法》實施及《維護國家安全條例》（俗稱23條）通過後急速惡化，這份簡報記錄了2026年5月香港的事態發展。

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摘要

2026年5月，英國法庭裁定兩名男子違反當地《國家安全法》罪成，「六四」週年前香港獨立傳媒和公民社會持續受壓。

本月最重要的法律進展是，倫敦中央刑事法院的陪審團裁定袁松彪（Bill Yuen）和衛志樑（Peter Wai）協助中國從事間諜活動罪名成立。這是英國刑事史上首宗相關定罪案例，循司法途徑證明香港駐倫敦經濟貿易辦事處充當英國境內跨國鎮壓基地。香港監察調查發現，三分之二居英港人覺得受到跨國鎮壓威脅；因參選「香港議會」而被香港警方通緝的張信燕在泰國被捕，面臨被遣返中國大陸，事件表明香港國家安全機構將勢力延伸至第三國。

支聯會「煽動顛覆國家政權」案完成結案陳詞，預計7月中下旬宣判，前副主席鄒幸彤和主席李卓人因支聯會口號和悼念活動面臨最高十年監禁。黃之鋒第二宗國安案已轉介至高等法院審理，最高可判終身監禁。 一名建築工人和一名67歲男子各因選舉相關煽動罪被判刑，可見因政治表達而檢控普通香港人的打壓模式持續。

新聞自由再次受到打擊。資深記者、前香港記者協會主席陳朗昇就「阻差辦公」上訴被駁回，須即時入獄。香港外國記者會調查發現，三分之二會員認為工作環境變差；記協被要求兩日內預繳73萬港元稅款。香港新聞自由指數在180個國家和地區中排第140位，香港官員因而公開抨擊無國界記者組織（Reporters Without Borders）。港府再向細節保密的國家安全基金注資50億港元，至今累計撥款180億港元，但一直未有披露款項的使用細節。

Photo: Mx. Granger, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons