Hong Kong gov’t rejected claims detention of activist Chow Hang-tung is ‘arbitrary,’ UN report says
Hong Kong Free Press
The Hong Kong government rejected claims that the detention of activist Chow Hang-tung was “arbitrary” and warned against commenting on ongoing legal proceedings, a UN report has revealed.
Chow, who was the vice-chair of the group behind Hong Kong’s annual Tiananmen vigils, has been detained since September 2021 pending trial. She has been charged with “incitement to subversion” under a national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020, with the trial set to get underway next May.
According to a report submitted to the UN Human Rights Council by UN Secretary-General António Guterres in August, the city’s government made the remarks while responding to the UN’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention last year.
The working group had found Chow’s detention to be arbitrary and said that “no trial of Ms. Chow should take place.”
“The Working Group considers that, taking into account all the circumstances of the
case, the appropriate remedy would be to release Ms. Hang Tung Chow immediately and to accord her an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law,” a document submitted to the UN Human Rights Council read.
According to the UN secretary general’s report, the government said that as proceedings against Chow were ongoing, any interference in the case would be inconsistent with legal principles, adding that comments intended to interfere with the case could be liable for contempt of court.
Chow, 39, was the former vice-chairperson of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which disbanded in September 2021 following the arrests of Chow, and two other ex-leaders Albert Ho and Lee Cheuk-yan.
For decades, the Alliance organised events to commemorate those killed during the Tiananmen crackdown, which occurred on June 4, 1989, ending months of student-led demonstrations in China. It is estimated that hundreds, perhaps thousands, died when the People’s Liberation Army dispersed protesters in Beijing.
Article 23
Guterres also included in his report concerns raised by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk about Hong Kong’s Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, enacted in March.
The new security law, known locally as Article 23, could have a “further chilling effect” on civil society, particularly when it came to engaging with international organisations and the UN, the report said citing Turk.
Offences that refer to “colluding with external force” and “external interference” appeared to encompass cooperation with the UN and its human rights mechanisms, the report added.
The Hong Kong government told the UN in July that “normal exchanges and cooperation” with the organisation were protected under the law, according to the report.
It firmly opposed UN intervention “on the pretext of false allegations of so-called reprisals [by Hong Kong authorities]” against people cooperating with UN human rights mechanisms, the report said.
Such intervention “gives visibility to criminals, runs counter to the spirit of the rule of law and infringes on Chinese judicial sovereignty,” the city’s government had said, according to the report.
Jimmy Lai
Separately, the report also said that members of an international legal team campaigning for jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai’s freedom had received death and rape threats over email and social media.
The team, led by Lai’s son Sebastian, also suffered “repeated attempts by unknown sources to hack their email and bank accounts,” the report added.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Sebastian Lai said: “Intimidation tactics will not succeed. I will not rest until my father is freed.”
The UN report noted the Hong Kong government’s earlier response to Lai’s efforts, in which it warned against commenting on ongoing legal process for risks of committing contempt of court or obstruction of justice.
Lai, 76, has been detained since December 2020. He is currently standing trial for two counts of conspiring to collude with foreign forces under the Beijing-imposed security law and a third count of conspiring to publish “seditious” materials. He has pleaded not guilty.
The tycoon is expected to take the witness stand when proceedings resume in November.
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