The government has condemned a statement issued by the UK-based Hong Kong Watch expressing concern about Article 23 national security legislation, saying it had sought to deliberately mislead the public on the offence of misprision of treason.

Hong Kong Watch, along with 16 co-signatories, had expressed “profound and grave concerns” over a proposal to impose a 14-year prison sentence on those who fail to disclose to the authorities of a treasonous offence in a timely manner, saying this has “grave implications” for the confidentiality of confessions in the Catholic church.

However, a government spokesman said in a statement that the offences of treason and misprision of treason have existed in Hong Kong and other common law jurisdictions for a long time.

“They do not target religious personnel or followers, and have nothing to do with freedom of religion. In any case, freedom of religion is not for protecting anyone who has committed serious offences from legal sanctions,” he said.

The spokesman added that ordinary people would “absolutely not commit treason” – regardless of their religious affiliation.

“Treason is an extremely serious and very rare offence endangering national security, which will only be violated in extreme conditions, including levying war against China, or instigating a foreign country to invade China with force. If a person really conducts such acts and activities, it would be absolutely reasonable, necessary and justified to request the Chinese citizen who knows about the acts to disclose the commission of the offence to the law enforcement agencies of the HKSAR.”

The statement also pointed out that misprision of treason is a common law offence in the UK, while other common law countries including the United States, Canada and Singapore have codified the offence of misprision of treason – without specifying exceptions.

“Hong Kong Watch and the co-signatories have not mentioned the relevant provisions in the countries concerned before groundlessly attacking under the guise of religious matters the HKSAR Government's legislative work on safeguarding national security,” the statement said.

“It is a blatant, shameless and barbaric intervention, and is also a typical example of double standards."

The spokesman also labelled Hong Kong Watch as an anti-China organisation that has repeatedly called for sanctions against SAR and mainland officials, and urged people in Hong Kong and overseas, along with the religious sector, to “see the organisation in its true colours and not to be misled by its erroneous remarks with ulterior motives."