New Hungarian law makes helping asylum seekers a crime

Campaign: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Photo: Reuters

Matthew Day
© Telegraph Media Group Limited

Hungary's parliament has passed legislation making helping asylum seekers punishable with up to a year in prison.

The law swept through a lower house of parliament dominated by Fidesz, the country's governing party, by 160 votes to 18 despite calls from the Venice Commission, the Council of Europe's human rights watchdog, for the vote to be delayed until the legislation was reviewed.