A US law which authorises sanctions against mainland Chinese and Hong Kong officials for perceived human rights violations could be “highly subjective,” the national security trial of Jimmy Lai has heard. The prosecution on Friday presented reports written by Wang Guiguo, the chair professor of Chinese and comparative law at the City University of Hong Kong. Wang was invited to give his views on US laws relating to Hong Kong that arose in the aftermath of the anti-extradition protests in 2019. During the unrest that year, activists had called on the US to enact legislation that would punish Ho...
Hong Kong Free Press
The top US diplomat in Hong Kong has called for the release of media mogul Jimmy Lai and other detained activists, sparking a complaint from Beijing’s foreign ministry of interference in China’s internal affairs. US Consul General Gregory May made “unfounded comments” on Hong Kong’s judicial cases in an online seminar hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Commissioner’s Office of China’s Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong said in a statement on Thursday. The office said it “strongly opposed and condemned” May’s remarks, which it described as openly supporting and embolde...
Hong Kong Free Press
Personal details of more than 8,000 students at a private Hong Kong college have been stolen and reportedly posted on the dark web, the latest in a spate of cyberattacks in the city which have sparked calls for tighter safeguards. The Hong Kong College of Technology – which offers a government-subsidised Higher Diploma in Cybersecurity – said on Thursday it suffered a ransomware attack by hackers in late February, in which many internal documents were stolen and encrypted. “This attack was not a typical one but rather a highly targeted and unusual cyber attack. HKCT strongly condemns any form ...
Hong Kong Free Press
A 61-year-old man has been taken to hospital with second-degree burns after a fire broke out at a plastics warehouse in Yuen Long where he worked. The blaze broke out at 12:39 am on Friday at Wing Ning Tsuen in Yuen Long, and was upgraded to a third alarm fire some 20 minutes later. It was largely extinguished within three hours. The authorities advised residents affected by the smoke and any unusual odours to close their doors and windows and stay calm. New Territories North Division Officer Samuel Wong said the department deployed 161 paramedics and firefighters with three hoses and 38 fire ...
Hong Kong Free Press
The parent company that owns the Apple Daily newspaper saw an improvement in its financial situation in the months ahead of a police raid, arrests, and its eventual shutdown, the national security trial of media mogul Jimmy Lai has heard. Royston Chow, the former chief financial officer of Next Digital, took to the witness stand for the third day on Thursday. He was arrested under the national security law in June 2021 alongside Lai and other Apple Daily executives, but was granted immunity by the prosecution in exchange for testifying against the tycoon in the present trial and in a separate ...
Hong Kong Free Press
A green group has called for a phased rollout of a controversial waste charging scheme, whereby it could cover most government premises but exclude public housing estates when it takes effect this August. In an open letter, environmental group The Green Earth urged the government to roll out the waste tax in phases, requiring government premises – including their offices, public schools, government staff quarters, and government-operated malls and factory estates – to take part. Public rental housing estates, however, should be exempt from the tax in the proposed first phase of the charging sc...
Hong Kong Free Press
The leader of Hong Kong radical protest group “Dragon Slayers” – allegedly behind a thwarted bomb plot during the 2019 demonstrations – was the only one in his team that was insisting on killing police officers, a court has heard. Prosecution witness Wong Chun-keung continued to testify against his former team members at the High Court, where seven people are standing a jury trial under the city’s anti-terrorism act. Prosecutors accuse the group of planning to carry out a bomb attack to murder police officers during a legal rally in Wan Chai on December 8, 2019, when the city was at the height...
Hong Kong Free Press
A Hong Kong appeals court has sided with the government in its attempt to ban protest song Glory to Hong Kong, overturning last year’s decision by a lower court that cited free speech concerns. Three Court of Appeal judges handed down the judgement on Wednesday, writing that the injunction sought by the authorities was “necessary” to persuade online platforms to remove the “problematic videos.” Popularised during the 2019 protests and unrest, Glory to Hong Kong has been confused with China’s anthem March of the Volunteers at international sporting events – mix-ups that have prompted investigat...
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong’s tourism minister has slammed a political commentator’s “fallacious” assertion that the city’s tourism policy had driven out high-value establishments and yielded weak economic returns. Citing tourism figures, Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung said more than 760,000 tourists from mainland China crossed the border in Hong Kong over the Labour Day “Golden Week,” with more than 190,000 visiting on May 2, marking a record high for single-day arrivals this year “This has brought business to the tourism sector and other related industries, and though not every business...
Hong Kong Free Press
Video-sharing app TikTok, and its Chinese parent company ByteDance, have filed a legal challenge in the US against a legislative move to force its sale, lest it face a country-wide ban. The petition said the demand violated constitutional guarantees to free speech detailed in the First Amendment, after President Joe Biden signed a bill giving the tech firm nine months to find a non-Chinese buyer. TikTok is estimated to have around a billion users worldwide and roughly 170 million users in the US. The firms argued on Sunday that “Congress has made a law curtailing massive amounts of protected s...
Hong Kong Free Press
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