A man has been charged under Hong Kong’s new security legislation over the publication of “seditious” statements on social media.
Au Kin-wai, 58, did not apply for bail and was taken into custody after he appeared before Magistrate Don So at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on Friday morning.
The social media posts allegedly involved the words “Revolution is no crime, to rebel is justified,” a slogan dating back to China’s Cultural Revolution, the court heard.
Au, who faces one count of “knowingly publishing publications that had a seditious intention,” was not required to enter a plea.
So, handpicked by the government to preside over national security court cases, adjourned the hearing to August 7 to allow the police to look through two phones, a desktop computer, and three laptops seized from Au’s home, The Witness reported.
Social media posts
According to a charge sheet provided by the Judiciary, Au had allegedly published seditious statements and images on social media platforms including YouTube, Facebook, and X between March 23 and June 19.
He allegedly made those posts to incite “hatred, contempt or disaffection against the “fundamental system of the state established by the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China” as well as Hong Kong’s executive, legislative, or judicial authority, and its constitutional order.
It was also alleged that Au intended to “incite any other person to do an act that does not comply with the law of [Hong Kong] or that does not obey an order issued under the law of [Hong Kong].”
Separate to the 2020 Beijing-imposed law, the passage of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, known locally as Article 23, was fast-tracked by the city’s opposition-free legislature earlier this year after legislation failed in 2003. It came into effect on March 23.
The law has been criticised by rights NGOs, Western states and the UN as vague, broad and “regressive.” But authorities have cited perceived foreign interference and a constitutional duty to “close loopholes” after the 2019 protests and unrest.
A 27-year-old man last Friday became the first person to be charged under Article 23. He was denied bail over wearing a t-shirt with a banned protest slogan and a yellow mask printed with statements allegedly intended to incite hatred, contempt or disaffection against the “fundamental system of the state established by the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China.”
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