Hong Kong man pleads guilty to posting ‘seditious’ statements on online forum

Hong Kong Free Press

A Hong Kong man has pleaded guilty under the sedition law after he was said to have made dozens of “seditious” statements on online discussion forum LIHKG.

Tsang Kwok-hei, 35, pleaded guilty to “doing an act or acts with seditious intention” before Principal Magistrate Don So at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on Friday. He was remanded into custody pending sentencing next month.

Online forum LIHKG. File photo: Kelly Ho/HKFP.

According to local media, Tsang admitted that he had posted a total of 36 “seditious messages” on the popular forum, including 15 statements that incited hatred against Hong Kong and Beijing. Ten of Tsang’s posts were described as pro-independence, including a comment that described a song as the “national anthem” of Hong Kong.

Police officers from the National Security Department arrested Tsang in mid-January. They later found records from Tsang’s computer showing that the defendant’s LIHKG had made the “seditious” statements, reports read.

Pleading for a lenient sentence, Tsang’s lawyer said his client had provided the password to his forum account voluntarily and he had not applied for bail because he wanted to bear the consequences of breaking the law.

West Kowloon Law Courts Building. Photo: GovHK.

Tsang’s account had been removed and his chances of reoffending were low, the counsel said.

So adjourned sentencing to April 10 to wait for a report on the defendant’s background. Tsang was sent back to custody.

Heavier sentence

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.

But the maximum penalty for sedition offences was raised to seven years of imprisonment under the Safeguarding National Security Bill passed on Tuesday. The ordinance required under Article 23 of the Basic Law will come into effect on Saturday.

The public consultation document of Hong Kong's homegrown security law, Article 23, on January 30, 2024. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. — The public consultation document of Hong Kong’s homegrown security law, Article 23, on January 30, 2024. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.

Separate to the 2020 Beijing-enacted security law, the homegrown Safeguarding National Security Ordinance targets treason, insurrection, sabotage, external interference, sedition, theft of state secrets and espionage. It allows for pre-charge detention of to up to 16 days, and suspects’ access to lawyers may be restricted, with penalties involving up to life in prison. Article 23 was shelved in 2003 amid mass protests, remaining taboo for years. But, on March 23, 2024, it was enacted having been fast-tracked and unanimously approved at the city’s opposition-free legislature.

The law has been criticised by rights NGOs, Western states and the UN as vague, broad and “regressive.” Authorities, however, cited perceived foreign interference and a constitutional duty to “close loopholes” after the 2019 protests and unrest.