Hong Kong and South Africa signed Friday two bilateral agreements covering surrender of fugitive offenders (SFO) and mutual legal assistance in criminal matters (MLA).

Hong Kong Secretary for Security Ambrose S K Lee, on behalf of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) government and South Africa's Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Mohamed Enver Surty signed the two bilateral agreements.

The SFO and MLA Agreements signed are respectively the 18th and26th bilateral agreements of their kind concluded by the HKSAR with other jurisdictions.

The SFO Agreement sets out the conditions for the surrender of fugitive offenders between the HKSAR and South Africa, and contains the usual safeguards in similar international agreements.

On the double criminality rule, the conduct in respect of which a person's surrender is required must constitute an offense punishable by imprisonment for at least one year according to the law of both parties, the agreements said.

Surrender may be refused if the offense for which surrender of a fugitive is requested is punishable with the death penalty.

On the political offenses rule, surrender shall be refused if the offense in question is an offense of a political character.

On the prima facie rule, a requirement that the evidence against the person sought by the requesting party should be sufficient to justify his committal for trial according to the law of the requested party.

On the specialty rule, a person surrendered must not be tried for offenses other than those for which he was surrendered, said the agreements.

<i>Source:Xinhua</i>