Organisers of Hong Kong’s Tiananmen vigils appeal conviction, sentencing over national security data request
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong’s Tiananmen vigil group was not a foreign agent and therefore did not have to oblige a national security police request for information, a court has heard as activists appealed their conviction and sentencing in a national security case.
Former vice-chairperson of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China Chow Hang-tung, and two of the defunct group’s standing committee members Tang Ngok-kwan and Tsui Hon-kwong, appeared at the High Court’s Court of Appeal on Wednesday.
Tang and Tsui sat in the dock, while Chow – who had a stack of legal documents with her – was permitted by judge Anna Lai to sit on a bench so she could better review the papers as there was not space in the dock for her to do so.
The three activists were found guilty in March of failing to comply with a notice issued by national security police in August 2021 demanding information, including personal information about standing committee members and staff. They were jailed for four and a half months each.
Senior Counsel Philip Dykes said on Wednesday that Article 43 of the national security law allowed police to order information from agents of authorities or a foreign political organisation. But the Alliance was only suspected of being a foreign agent, and there was no evidence that the group was in fact a foreign agent.
As a result, police had no right to serve a notice to the Alliance to demand information, Dykes said.
The barrister added that it was the responsibility of police and prosecutors to prove that the Alliance was a foreign agent. At present, the activists did not even know which foreign body they were accused of colluding with, meaning they had no way to defend themselves on the basis of facts, Dykes said.
The activists were said to have a “connection with a foreign business organisation that is in fact a complete stranger to [them],” Dykes said.
The barrister also read out part of the implementation rules of Article 43, which define a “foreign agent” as, among other things, a person who carries out activities in Hong Kong for the benefit of a foreign government or political organisation. Dykes said, however, that the magistrate who found the activists guilty did not make such a decision.
During the trial last August, a senior superintendent called upon by the prosecution to testify said police had a reasonable belief that the group was a foreign agent. The superintendent, who oversaw the police investigation into the Alliance, added that it was necessary to issue the notice for the investigation and prevent the occurrence of offences endangering national security.
September 2021 arrest
Founded in 1989, the Alliance organised yearly mass vigils in the city to mark the anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown more than three decades ago.
The incident 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.
Public commemorations of the crackdown were illegal in mainland China, but permitted in the city and, until recently, attended by large crowds annually. In 2020 and 2021, police refused to allow the vigil on grounds of Covid-19.
Members of the Alliance were arrested in September 2021 that year after refusing to comply with the demand from national security police for information. It disbanded later that month, joining dozens of other civil society groups that have been forced to shut in the wake of the national security law.
Wednesday was the first day of the appeal hearing, which is scheduled to last two days and will continue on Thursday.
Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution in June 2020 following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest. It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts – broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure. The move gave police sweeping new powers, led to hundreds of convictions amid new legal precedents, whilst dozens of civil society groups disappeared. The authorities say it restored stability and peace to the city, rejecting criticism from trade partners, the UN and NGOs, despite an overall rise in crime.
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