China's Tough Hong Kong Law Turns 1 Year Old — And It's Already Grown Teeth

BEIJING — It took just one year for China's national security law to completely remake Hong Kong's decades-old institutions.

Apple Daily newspaper had to shut down. Universities have been muzzled. Prominent activists are either in prison or in exile. And protesters who took part in Hong Kong's largest demonstrations ever against Beijing's rule are facing sentences of up to life in prison.

Hong Kong's Chief Executive Carrie Lam vowed on the eve of the national security law's implementation last year that it would "only target an extremely small minority" of crimes, but basic rights and freedoms and most citizens would be protected.

While the absolute number of people brought to trial has indeed been low, the law has been used to arrest people for a broad variety