Chief Executive Carrie Lam today refuted suggestions she would simply follow the Central Government’s instructions when handling the surrender of fugitives.

Speaking ahead of the Executive Council meeting, Mrs Lam said such allegations were unfounded.

"There has been this reference and maybe worries or fears or even allegations that the Chief Executive will just follow the instructions given by the Central Government and surrender whatever fugitives that the Central Government wants.

“This is totally unfounded and deviates from the provisions in the law. There are very detailed provisions in the law that would not allow that sort of situation to happen.”

To address public concerns over the bill, the Government announced six additional measures last week, she added.

“Those additional measures are very much in line with the international rights for the protection of the individual, which we have heard over the past few months.

“We have imposed those additional safeguards as requirements to be met by the requesting party under a case-by-case extradition arrangement.

“If those requirements are not fulfilled, the Chief Executive will not trigger the process to deal with this particular request.

“If those requirements are fulfilled, the triggering of the process will have to go through the legal process and the courts will decide in the light of the evidence and the law whether a surrender order should be pursued, and then the case will come back to the Chief Executive for a decision.”