Ban on asylum seekers getting legal help

Hungary has amended its constitution to tighten immigration rules, with parliament passing new legislation banning lawyers and activists from helping asylum seekers.

Anyone “facilitating illegal immigration” will face a year in jail under the legal changes.

The legislation has been dubbed the “Stop Soros law” after the billionaire philanthropist, who Viktor Orban’s government has accused of supporting Muslim migrants.

The vote in Budapest came just hours after a series of European Union leaders agreed to hold crisis talks on how to overhaul asylum rules.

Hungary has declared immigration as a threat to national security.

The hardline stance has sparked international condemnation, with the United Nations refugee agency urging Hungarian officials to scrap the proposed law.

And legal experts from the Council of Europe human rights organisation appealed for the vote to be postponed until they had submitted a review of the measures.

The new legislation amends eight existing laws and introduces one new crime of facilitating illegal immigration.