Tiananmen vigil activists to take appeal against conviction over refusing nat. sec. data request to Hong Kong’s top court
Hong Kong Free Press
Three Tiananmen vigil activists convicted over refusing to comply with a national security data demand have been granted permission to take their appeal to the city’s top court.
The Court of Final Appeal heard the leave application for leave to appeal from Chow Hang-tung, Tang Ngok-kwan and Tsui Hon-kwong, all former standing committee members of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, on Wednesday.
The three activists were sentenced to four and a half months in prison last March after being found guilty of failing to comply with a notice issued by national security police in August 2021 demanding information, including personal information, about Alliance standing committee members and staff.
For over two decades, the Alliance organised the city’s annual Tiananmen vigils at Victoria Park to pay tribute to victims of the 1989 crackdown, who died when the China’s People’s Liberation Army dispersed protesters in Beijing, killing hundreds if not thousands. The last mass vigil was held in 2019, before Hong Kong passed a national security law.
Representing herself on Wednesday, Chow, who is a barrister, called her conviction “wrongful” and said there was uncontested evidence in the trial that the Alliance was not a foreign agent. By categorising the Alliance as a foreign agent, police were able to use powers granted under Article 43 of the national security law to demand information.
Robert Pang, who represented Tang and Tsui, referred to the fact that some of the documents used in the trial were heavily redacted as the prosecution said disclosing them could harm public interest.
“There were allegations that the Alliance was a foreign agent of various organisations. The organisations are not named,” Pang said.
In response, government prosecutor Jonathan Man said that if the prosecution were required to prove that a certain party was a foreign agent, it would “seriously hamper the effectiveness of the whole regime.”
After the appellants and the prosecution presented their submission, Justice Roberto Ribeiro said the court would grant the appellants leave to appeal.
The Court of Final Appeal will hear the case on January 8, he said.
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