Explainer: Hong Kong’s national security crackdown – month 39
Hong Kong Free Press
In the 39th month since the national security law was imposed on Hong Kong, trials involving people from all walks of life continued. Students who expressed sympathy for a man who took his life after stabbing a police officer were taken into custody pending sentence, while a young mainland Chinese student was jailed for sedition over planning to display a large banner relating to the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown.
As Hong Kong prepared to celebrate China’s National Day on October 1, more family members of overseas activists were taken for questioning, as over 100 groups involved in further education were urged to safeguard national security.
Former student leaders in custody
Four former student leaders at the University of Hong Kong were remanded in custody while they await sentencing next month. They pleaded guilty to inciting others to wound by expressing sympathy for Leung Kin-fai, who took his own life after wounding a police officer in July 2021.
District Judge Adriana Noelle Tse Ching revoked the bail of Kinson Cheung, Charles Kwok, Chris Todorovski and Anthony Yung on September 20, after she heard their mitigation pleas in the case concerning statements made at a student union council meeting on July 7, 2021.
The student body passed a resolution to mourn Leung’s death in Causeway Bay on July 1, 2021, when the city marked 24 years since its return to Chinese rule.
Mainland Chinese student jailed for sedition
A mainland Chinese postgraduate student was jailed for six months after she pleaded guilty to an attempted seditious act.
Law student Zeng Yuxuan, 23, was jailed on September 12. She admitted planning to unfurl a nine-metre long vertical banner with an image of the Pillar of Shame statue on it from a footbridge in Causeway Bay on June 4, the 34th anniversary of Beijing’s crackdown on student-led demonstrations in China.
The statue, which stood on the University of Hong Kong campus for decades, was created by Danish sculptor Jens Galschiøt to commemorate those who died when the People’s Liberation Army dispersed pro-democracy protesters on June 4, 1989. In May, it was seized by police as evidence for an “inciting subversion” probe.
Reporter sentenced to jail
Ronson Chan, the head of Hong Kong’s largest journalist group, was found guilty of obstructing a police officer while reporting last September and was sentenced to five days in prison before being granted bail pending appeal.
The veteran journalist and chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association appeared at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court on September 25. He denied obstructing a police officer and an alternative charge of obstructing a public officer.
More family of overseas activists questioned
National security police took the father-in-law, mother-in-law, and brother-in-law of self-exiled democrat Ted Hui from their home in Yuen Long for questioning on September 12.
Hui is among the eight overseas activists wanted by Hong Kong national security police, with authorities offering a bounty of HK$1 million for each of the democrats.
After issuing arrest warrants in early July, the police have several times taken family members and friends of the overseas activists for questioning. By late August, at least 32 family members and associates had been questioned.
UK on the state of Hong Kong
Hong Kong authorities had expanded the use of the national security law “beyond genuine national security concerns,” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a regular report on the state of the city on September 19. Cleverly aslo expressed disappointment over Beijing’s “ongoing state of non-compliance” with an agreement signed by China and Britain in 1984.
The Hong Kong government expressed its “strong” disapproval of the report, saying it “firmly rejected the groundless attacks, slanders and smears against the HKSAR” contained in the document.
Hong Kong consulate staff details
The Commissioner’s Office of China’s Foreign Ministry told all consulates in Hong Kong to pass on the job titles, residential addresses and identification details of all locally-employed staff in Hong Kong.
The letter, sent by the Hong Kong government at the request of the commissioner’s office and obtained by HKFP, gave each mission until October 18 to submit the details on an attached form. Additionally, missions were “requested to complete the form within 15 days of commencement of the engagement” of any new staff members.
China defended the request, saying it was “international common practice”.
“It’s understood that China’s consular bodies in foreign countries have also provided their local staff’s information in accordance with the local governments’ requests,” said a statement issued by the commissioner’s office.
100 groups asked to safeguard security
The Hong Kong government on September 19 requested over 100 schools and institutions to ensure that “all key personnel” involved in providing subsidised further education courses safeguard national security.
The Labour and Welfare Bureau revised the terms for all courses under the Continuing Education Fund, stating that with immediate effect all relevant groups must safeguard national security.
18 children’s books
A Hong Kong court on September 7 denied bail to a man charged with importing children’s books that were deemed seditious in a high-profile trial last year. He was said to have imported three copies each of The Guardians of Sheep Village, The Twelve Warriors of Sheep Village, The Street Cleaners of Sheep Village, Voting Day in Sheep Village, The Architects of Sheep Village and Sheep Village Daily.
Kurt Leung, a 38-year-old clerk, was said to have intended to bring hatred to the central and Hong Kong governments, promote “feelings of ill-will and enmity” in Hong Kong, and incite violence.
Trial of Jimmy Lai
The Hong Kong government condemned remarks by overseas groups as slander after they called for the release of pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai on his 1,000th day in custody.
Lai will have been detained for three years when his high-profile national security trial gets underway in December.
The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, a group based in Washington DC, published a letter addressed to US President Joe Biden calling on him to urge the Hong Kong government to “immediately and unconditionally release” Lai.
Trial of 47 democrats
Two defendants in Hong Kong’s landmark national security case involving 47 democrats are set to return to court in October. The court is expected to hear the case against the pair, who changed their pleas to guilty ahead of the trial.
Former district councillor Ng Kin-wai and businessman Mike Lam, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit subversion, are scheduled to appear in court on October 5. The hearing is expected to take four days.
‘Seditious’ online content
A 46-year-old man was arrested by national security police in Hung Hom on September 18 and charged over suspected “seditious” online content the following day.
The office clerk was suspected of publishing 49 articles on discussion forum LIHKG calling for sanctions and violent action to be taken against officials, local media reported citing sources. National security police searched his home and seized electronic devices.
Arrest and prosecution tally
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.
Support HKFP | Policies & Ethics | Error/typo? | Contact Us | Newsletter | Transparency & Annual Report | Apps
Support HKFP | Policies & Ethics | Error/typo? | Contact Us | Newsletter | Transparency & Annual Report | Apps
https://hongkongfp.com/2023/09/30/explainer-hong-kongs-national-security-crackdown-month-39/