57-year-old Hong Kong man denied bail over alleged ‘seditious’ online content

Hong Kong Free Press

A 57-year-old man has been denied bail after he was arrested by Hong Kong national security police over allegedly posting content “with seditious intention” online.

Au Kin-wai appeared in front of Chief Magistrate Victor So on Wednesday morning at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts. Au was charged with one count of “doing an act or acts with seditious intention” between April 19 and October 16 over allegedly posting “seditious” content on Facebook and X, formerly known as Twitter.

In an earlier statement, police said the man, who was apprehended in Tuen Mun on Tuesday, had repeatedly posted content provoking hatred towards the Beijing and Hong Kong governments. He was also said to have advocated “independence of Hong Kong,” demanded sanctions against government officials, and incited the use of violence.

Police said they obtained a court warrant to search the man’s home, from which they seized electronic communication devices.

So, who is also a handpicked national security judge, denied Au bail and placed him on remand. The case was adjourned to December 4 awaiting further police investigation.

Sedition is not covered by the Beijing-imposed national security law, which targets secession, subversion, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts and mandates up to life imprisonment. Those convicted under the sedition law – last amended in the 1970s when Hong Kong was still a British colony – face a maximum penalty of two years in prison.

National and Hong Kong flags decorate Tsim Sha Tsui, in Hong Kong, on October 1, 2023. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

Hong Kong has seen an increase in prosecutions under the colonial-era sedition law, which lay dormant for more than 50 years, since the national security law was implemented in June 2020. Both sedition and national security law cases are handled by judges who have been handpicked to hear such cases.

Bail for the defendants also becomes the exception, not the norm, meaning those charged by sedition could face lengthy pre-trial detention.

As of September 15, 279 people had been arrested for suspected acts and activities that endangered national security since the legislation was enacted, the Security Bureau told HKFP. Among them, 162 people and five companies had been charged under the national security law or the sedition law or with other crimes.

Among the 90 persons who have been convicted or are awaiting sentencing, 30 were charged under the national security law.

The bureau did not reveal figures of arrests and charges under the sedition law.