More than three years after they were arrested, 16 democrats who pleaded not guilty in a landmark national security case finally heard their verdicts from Hong Kong’s High Court. They are among 47 defendants in the case, of whom 31 pleaded guilty. Most of the 47 have been held in custody since February 28, 2021.
The court separately announced that another national security case concerning the disbanded Tiananmen vigil group would not begin this year. Meanwhile, Chow Hang-tung, a defendant in the case, become one of seven people arrested under the city’s new security law.
Hong Kong 47: 14 convicted
Fourteen Hong Kong democrats were found guilty on May 30 and two were cleared of conspiracy to commit subversion in a national security trial revolving around their roles in an unofficial opposition primary election in July 2020. Those found guilty join 31 defendants who earlier pleaded guilty to the charge in awaiting sentencing.
Lawrence Lau and Lee Yue-shun were acquitted – becoming the first two people tried under the Beijing-imposed security law of 2020 to be cleared. But the Department of Justice announced it intends to appeal the acquittals.
The defendants face three tiers of penalty depending on their level of participation in the offence. The maximum sentence is life in prison, while the minimum sentence is “fixed term imprisonment of not more than three years, short-term detention or restriction.”
The group was charged in February 2021 with conspiracy to commit subversion. Most have been held in custody since then. The judges will hear mitigation pleas on June 25.
First wave of arrests under Article 23
Detained Hong Kong rights activist Chow Hang-tung was among six people arrested by national security police on May 28, the first apprehensions under the city’s new security law, known locally as Article 23, which came into force in March. Another person was detained the following day.
The arrests were made in connection with a Facebook group that called for support for barrister and human rights activist Chow. One of them, a woman already in custody, was alleged to have continuously published anonymous “seditious” posts on an social media page with the help of the other five, said police and security chief Chris Tang.
The posts were said to have made use of an “upcoming sensitive date” to incite hatred against the central and Hong Kong governments, as well as against the judiciary.
The arrests came a week before June 4, which this year marks the 35th anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown when hundreds, if not thousands, died as China’s People’s Liberation Army dispersed student protesters in Beijing.
Chow has been detained under the Beijing-imposed national security law since September 2021.
UK claims ‘unwarranted’
Chief Executive John Lee in mid-May rejected “unwarranted accusations” that the city had funded the surveillance of overseas activists wanted by national security police, after a Hong Kong government employee was among three charged by UK authorities over alleged spying activities.
Lee also urged Britain to “fairly handle” the case. Bill Yuen, one of the defendants, is listed as an office manager at the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London.
Yuen, 63, Peter Wai, 38, and Matthew Trickett, 37, were arrested in early May and charged with assisting a foreign intelligence service and foreign interference under the UK’s National Security Act 2023. They appeared in court on May 13 and were granted bail.
Trickett was found dead in a park in the UK on May 19. “An investigation is ongoing into the death, which is currently being treated as unexplained,” police said, adding that a post-mortem would be conducted.
Ban on ‘Glory to Hong Kong’
Hong Kong’s appeal court sided with the government in its attempt to ban protest song Glory to Hong Kong in early May, overturning last year’s decision by a lower court that rejected a ban on free speech grounds.
Three Court of Appeal judges said the injunction sought by the authorities was necessary to persuade online platforms to remove “problematic videos.”
The city’s justice chief Paul Lam said on May 13 the government had informed Google about the injunction and was anxious to hear its response.
Two days later, Google blocked Hong Kong users from accessing the song on YouTube. EmuBands, the original distributor of the song, removed the previous iterations of the protest song from Apple Music and Spotify last week, citing the court order.
However, in late May, it was again uploaded to YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify,
Popularised during the 2019 protests and unrest, Glory to Hong Kong has been confused with China’s national anthem March of the Volunteers at international sporting events – mix-ups that have prompted investigations by the police. Authorities have linked the song to “violence and disturbances” and advocating for Hong Kong’s independence, although that was not one of the official demands of the extradition-bill protests.
Social work licensing body overhauled
Authorities on May 22 began the legislative process to increase the proportion of government-appointed members in a social workers’ licensing body, less than two weeks after an official said changes were needed to “better protect national security.”
According to the proposed bill, the number of board members on the licensing body will be increased to 27, among whom two will be government representatives and 17 government-appointed members. The number of peer-elected members will be slashed.
The city’s welfare chief Chris Sun wrote on May 10 on Facebook that the licensing body was failing to bar those convicted of national security offences from registration, while one social worker – who faced trial over rioting – had joined a governing committee.
Four days later, Chief Executive John Lee and the Executive Committee approved the proposed bill to overhaul the licensing body.
The Hong Kong Social Workers’ General Union expressed surprise at the speed of the government’s move, which left little time for discussion or consultation. It It added that the plan reflected a distrustful attitude towards social workers.
National security education
The Education Bureau (EDB) called on parents to cooperate with schools to help heighten their children’s sense of national identity, recommending they encourage their offspring to join activities at schools related to the Basic Law and national security, such as talks and mainland China exchange programmes.
In a documenthkbu-booklet/cfsecen.pdf?sfvrsn=100cc7371) released on May 27, the EDB said parents played a significant role in fostering children’s national identity.
Separately, the EDB urged four schools to bolster their national security education curricula, including two institutions for special needs students.
In its reports, the bureau said Caritas Resurrection School, a school for children with moderate intellectual disabilities, was “lagging behind” in implementing national security education.
Jimmy Lai trial
The national security trial of the pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai continued, with a group of current, and former, foreign politicians saying they had demanded to be called as witnesses in the landmark case.
Members of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, who come from nine countries, include Japan’s former defence minister Gen Nakatani and Iain Duncan Smith – a former UK Conservative party leader who has been sanctioned by China. In a letter seen by the BBC, the group say they had been cited over 50 times during the hearings yet have never been formally contacted to submit evidence.
Paralegal Chan Tsz-wah, a prosecution witness, continued to give his testimony in May. He insisted he was telling the truth after the defence challenged his credibility as a witness and accused him of fabricating his testimony in order to favourably influence his own sentencing.
He admitted to the defence that he had given false statements to officers during his first two interviews with police but started being truthful as he no longer wanted the lies to weigh on his “conscience.”
Royston Chow, a former executive of Apple Daily’s parent company Next Digital, began his testimony on May 8.
May 29 marked the 86th day of the trial, originally slated to last for 80 days when it began last December.
Lai, 76, has pleaded not guilty to two conspiracy charges of colluding with foreign forces under the national security law – punishable by life imprisonment – and one count of conspiring to publish seditious materials.
Latest prosecution and arrest figures
As of May 30, 297 people had been arrested for suspected breaches of national security since the legislation was enacted, the Security Bureau told HKFP. Among them, 175 people and five companies had been charged under the national security law or the sedition law or with other crimes.
Of those charged, 114 people – including 33 charged under the security law itself – have been convicted or are awaiting sentencing.
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