Types of Expressions

This briefing paper, published by Amnesty International, outlines why, five years after the imposition of the National Security Law (NSL), renewed global advocacy is urgently needed to bring to justice those responsible for widespread rights violations in Hong Kong. The research examines patterns in arrests and prosecutions under the NSL framework, showing the drastic erosion of the main legal safeguards. The key findings are alarming: 1) in 85% of the analyzed cases, legitimate expression was on trial; 2) in 89% of national security cases, the courts denied bail; and 3) the length of pre-trial detention averaged 11 months. “[T]he authorities are deploying vague and overly broad legal provisions to target opposition voices and dismantle civil society,” the briefing concluded.

Digital platforms have played a powerful role in mobilizing Kenya’s youth for the protests of 2024 and 2025; yet technology, as Amnesty International reveals, has also helped the state orchestrate large-scale repression. Kenyans rallied against the Finance Bill in June 2024 and took to the streets again a year later to protest the government and lack of accountability; the largely peaceful demonstrations were suppressed violently, resulting in at least 3,000 arrests, 83 enforced disappearances, and 128 deaths. The report, based on expert observations and interviews with Kenya’s human rights defenders, examines the state’s “shadowy” tech-facilitated tactics – coordinated online harassment, surveillance, and disinformation campaigns – and complicity of companies like X and Safaricom.