Explainer: Hong Kong’s national security crackdown – month 48
Hong Kong Free Press
In the 48th month since Beijing imposed its national security law on Hong Kong, the city saw several firsts under separate homegrown security legislation, known colloquially as Article 23, which came into force in March.
Using powers in the new law, authorities identified overseas activists as “absconders” and ordered their Hong Kong passports cancelled; the first people were charged under Article 23; and the first legal challenge was filed against the law by a protester whose early release from prison was scrapped days before he was set to walk free.
There was renewed controversy over the role of foreign judges in the city’s highest court, with three resignations. One judge strongly criticised “legally indefensible” judgements against local democrats.
Passports of 6 ‘fugitives’ cancelled
On June 12, authorities cancelled the passports of six UK-based self-exiled activists – Nathan Law, Christopher Mung, Finn Lau, Simon Cheng, Johnny Fok and Tony Choi – exercising powers under the recently enacted Safeguarding National Security Ordinance law for the first time.
Secretary for Security Chris Tang defended the move, denying that it violated a UN human rights treaty that protects people’s freedom of movement. However, the UK, the US and Australia expressed concern over the cancelled passports, with British minister of state for the Indo-Pacific region, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, calling it the “latest regrettable decision from Hong Kong authorities.”
First people charged under Article 23
Chu Kai-pong, 27, became the first person to be charged under Hong Kong’s new security law on June 14, when he appeared in court accused of “an act or acts that had a seditious intention.”
Chu was arrested while wearing a T-shirt and a mask printed with statements that were allegedly intended to incite hatred, contempt or disaffection against the “fundamental system of the state established by the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China.”
Days later, Au Kin-wai, 58, appeared in court over the publication of “seditious” statements on social media, allegedly involving the words “Revolution is no crime, to rebel is justified,” a slogan dating back to China’s Cultural Revolution. Au did not apply for bail.
On June 23, 29-year-old clerk Chung Man-kit was arrested in Tseung Kwan O by national security police for “an act or acts that had a seditious intention.” He also faces two counts of damaging property.
Chung is suspected of “writing words with seditious intention on multiple occasions on the back of bus seats on different public buses” in March and April.
Foreign judges quit city’s top court
British judges Jonathan Sumption, 75, and Lawrence Collins, 83, resigned from their positions as overseas non-permanent judges on the Court of Final Appeal in early June, both citing politics as among their reasons for leaving.
Sumption later wrote an op-ed for the Financial Times, in which he deemed a recent judgement against Hong Kong democrats to have been “legally indefensible.” He said judges’ freedoms have been “severely limited” and what was “once a vibrant and politically diverse community is slowly becoming a totalitarian state.”
Days later, Canadian judge Beverley McLachlin announced that she, too, would leave the court when her three-year term expired in July. “I continue to have confidence in the members of the Court, their independence, and their determination to uphold the rule of law,” she said in a statement.
Asked to respond to Sumption’s comments, Chief Executive John Lee said that a judge’s duty was to interpret the law in accordance with legal principles and evidence, “whether he likes that law or not, not from his political stance.”
Beijing’s liaison office and national security office in Hong Kong called Sumption a “pawn” of foreign interference.
Mitigation begins in Hong Kong 47 case
Seventeen days were set aside for national security judges to hear the mitigation submissions from 45 pro-democracy figures convicted of conspiracy to subvert state power in Hong Kong’s largest national security trial.
Lawyers for former University of Hong Kong law professor Benny Tai were first to speak on June 25, suggesting their client should receive a sentence of no more than two years. Tai, like most of those charged over their roles in an unofficial primary election in July 2020, has been in custody since February 28, 2021.
On June 26, the court also heard from lawyers representing Au Nok-hin, Andrew Chiu, Ben Chung and Gordon Ng, who were described by prosecutors as the main organisers of the subversion scheme along with Tai.
Ng’s representative read a letter penned by Ng to the court, in which he wrote: “I believe that the holding of fair and regular elections provides the best counterbalance against a power potentially becoming tyrannical. It is for these reasons that I support the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, as I believe their cause of striving for democracy a noble one.”
“I considered it my right, and possibly even my duty, to do something to increase the chance of a successful primary election,” he wrote, adding that he had “done [his] utmost” to ensure the legality of his campaign.
A ‘major test’ of national security
On June 18, Beijing’s Ministry of State Security called the landmark case involving 47 pro-democracy figures a “major test” of national security and the rule of law.
The ministry also said the verdict in the trial of the 16 defendants who had pleaded not guilty, 14 of whom were convicted, was a deterrent to “anti-China forces and foreign forces.” Another 31 have pleaded guilty.
“Those who dare to challenge the bottom line of China’s national security will be severely punished by the law,” the ministry said in a Chinese-language post on WeChat.
Earlier in June, the city’s leader Chief Executive John Lee said the trial, that ended “in the conviction of 45 people shows the scale and gravity of the case,” adding that “it shows there are real risks to our national security.”
Prosecutors close case against Jimmy Lai
After 90 days in court, the prosecution on June 11 closed its case against pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai.
Lai, the 76-year-old founder of the city’s now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper, is facing up to life imprisonment for two counts under the Beijing-imposed national security law of taking part in a “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces.” He is also accused of conspiring to publish “seditious” materials.
Proceedings will resume in late July, when defence lawyers are set to argue that Lai has no case to answer.
First legal challenge against new law filed
Ma Chun-man, who is serving a five-year sentence, filed the first legal challenge against the city’s new security law after his early release was scrapped on national security grounds just days before he was scheduled to walk free.
Ma’s lawyers argued that the decision to revoke Ma’s early release was retroactive and a violation of his rights and of procedural fairness.
“Constitutional rights do not stop at the prison gates,” the lawyers wrote in the High Court filing.
“If a person originally convicted for a national security offence can be cleared for release just a month earlier… but is then refused release under the new law, one must question what more does the new [law] require, and whether those requirements are lawful.”
Tiananmen crackdown anniversary arrests
Hong Kong on June 4 marked the 35th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, the first since the enactment of Article 23, with a heavy police deployment and no public commemorations.
Several people were stopped and searched around Causeway Bay’s Victoria Park, where candlelit vigils were once held to remember the hundreds if not thousands who died when the People’s Liberation Army cracked down on protesters in Beijing on June 4, 1989. Some, including Swiss photographer Marc Progin, were escorted from the scene.
Four people were arrested, including an elderly woman suspected of acting with seditious intention under the new security law. On the eve of the anniversary, performance artist Sanmu Chan was stopped, questioned and taken away by police in Causeway Bay after writing the Chinese characters for “8964” with his finger in the air, referencing the date of the crackdown.
Eight people were arrested in the days leading up to the anniversary in connection with social media posts on a Facebook page entitled “Chow Hang-tung Club,” including the detained rights activist Chow herself. None have yet been charged.
On June 2, the weekly Christian Times newspaper ran a largely blank front page, saying, it “can only respond to the current situation by turning paragraphs into blank squares and white space” and that society has become “restrictive.” In the past, the paper published crackdown-related content ahead of the anniversary, but this year said its front page could not be printed “due to an issue”.
Public events not the same as public assembly
Authorities said police approved all 341 applications for public events in 2023. But Chan Po-ying, chair of the pro-democracy organisation the League of Social Democrats, told HKFP the figure did not show “the full picture” or reflect the public’s right to peaceful assembly.
“They approved 100 per cent of the applications, but the nature of the events are… not what we commonly understand as processions, where we show our strength and make demands of the government,” Chan said, adding that most applications were from religious and pro-establishment groups.
Hong Kong has not seen any democracy protests since the enactment of the national security law in 2020. Dozens of civil society groups that used to organise such events have disbanded.
Publishers told to abide by security laws
Exhibitors at Hong Kong’s upcoming annual book fair should comply with the Beijing-imposed national security law and the city’s homegrown security legislation, the event’s organiser said on June 25.
When asked by reporters whether there was “a list of banned titles” that would be censored, Sophia Chong of the the Hong Kong Trade Development Council did not respond directly.
National security priority for civil servants
The government introduced a new version of the civil service code of conduct in early June, adding six core values. The first was “upholding the constitutional order and national security.”
Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung said safeguarding national security was the most important value for Hong Kong’s 175,000 civil servants.
Article 23 task force to be rewarded
The team behind the fast-tracked homegrown security law will receive an award for completing a “historical mission,” the city’s leader Lee said on June 18.
Saying that the special task force behind the legislation, which consisted of the Department of Justice, the Security Bureau, and the police, were his “heroes,” Lee added that they would be awarded for their “deeds of valour.”
US says security laws curb anti-trafficking efforts
The “2024 Trafficking in Persons Report: Hong Kong,” released by the US State Department on June 24, saw Hong Kong downgraded to a “watch list” over its response to human trafficking.
The report said the twin security laws had restricted the ability of NGOs to engage with officials to combat trafficking. Since Beijing’s national security law came into force, “NGOs and other civil society organisations reported they were more cautious in their engagement with the government, including on human trafficking,” it said.
“Similarly, after the March 23, 2024 enactment of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance under Article 23 of the Hong Kong Basic Law, civil society organisations started to report similar restrictions.”
A government spokesperson said both security laws “clearly stipulate that human rights shall be respected and protected in safeguarding national security.”
NYT editor slams security laws
The executive editor of The New York Times, Joseph Kahn, criticised the “corrosive effect” of Hong Kong’s national security laws on press freedom during the Society of Publishers in Asia awards on June 20.
Kahn, who was a correspondent based in Hong Kong in 1989 after the Tiananmen crackdown, said the city had once been a bridge between the East and the West at a time when mainland China was largely inaccessible to Western journalists.
But he said that had changed under the security law, adding that The New York Times moved part of its regional office in Hong Kong to Seoul in 2020 in response. “Global news operation requires firm, legal protections for the journalists and our staff,” he said.
Activist’s mother evicted from public housing flat
The mother of wanted activist Nathan Law was evicted from her public housing flat in June over unpaid rent.
News of his mother’s eviction, which was confirmed by the Housing Department, came days after authorities announced that Law was among six “fugitives” whose passports had been cancelled.
Latest prosecution and arrest figures
As of June 21, a total of 299 people had been arrested in “cases involving suspected acts or activities that endanger national security” since Beijing’s national security law came into effect, the Security Bureau told HKFP. The number includes those arrested under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance.
Of the 175 people and five companies who have so far been charged, 156 persons have been convicted or are awaiting sentencing. Among them, 76 have been convicted or are awaiting sentencing under the national security law.
“As revealing specific arrest figures and information related to these activities could have an impact on operational deployment, no breakdown of the arrest statistics would be disclosed to the public,” the Security Bureau added.
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https://hongkongfp.com/2024/06/30/explainer-hong-kongs-national-security-crackdown-month-48/