PoliticsProtest
The verdict for Hong Kong’s largest national security case is expected to be delivered at the end of May, more than three years after the 47 democrats who were charged were brought to court. The democrats were arrested in 2021 for organising the primaries in a bid to win a majority in the 2020 Legislative Council election. They were charged with conspiring to commit subversion, a crime under the Beijing-imposed national security law that could see them jailed for life. The defendants – among them ex-lawmakers and high-profile activists – were accused of planning to indiscriminately veto govern...
Hong Kong Free Press
It is a commonplace political observation that carelessly passed legislation often has unintended – and maybe ridiculous – effects. Our newly minted local legislators seem to have neglected this important warning. We are all, these days, eager to secure national security. However, attempts to achieve this by jailing those convicted of national security offences for long periods have reached a curious position. Readers will recall that – under the national security law bestowed on us by Beijing – national security offences come, like Pacific Coffee, in three sizes: small, medium and large. Thos...
Hong Kong Free Press
In the 46th month since Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong, the city held a raft of events to mark National Security Education Day. China’s top man on Hong Kong affairs urged it to prioritise economic development after the passage of a second security law. City officials continued to defend the homegrown security law – known locally as Article 23 – saying it did not damage the city’s rule of law and press freedom. They rebutted criticism from the US and European Union as “smears” and “hypocrisy with double standards.” The national security trial of pro-democracy media mogul J...
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong has again ranked low in a global press freedom index, as a watchdog cited an “unprecedented series of setbacks” including newsroom closures and journalist arrests under Beijing’s national security law. The city placed 135 out of 180 countries and territories in the Reporters Without Borders (RSF)’s annual press freedom ranking, released on Friday to mark World Press Freedom Day. Sandwiched between the Philippines and South Sudan in the ranking, Hong Kong continued to be among the few developed places to place poorly. Its press freedom ranking rose five places from last year’s 140. Bu...
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong must improve communications to manage tourists’ expectations of fireworks displays, a tourism veteran has said after visitors from mainland China aired complaints about a scaled-down pyrotechnics display on Labour Day. It came as Hong Kong saw more than 181,000 arrivals from the mainland on the first day of the May 1 “golden week”. Timothy Chui, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association, told RTHK that he was “pleasantly surprised” to know that some mainland tourists had come to Hong Kong specifically for the scaled-down fireworks display. However, some Chinese netizens...
Hong Kong Free Press
Pro-democracy Cantopop star Denise Ho has said she will perform an online gig this month having been unable to secure a live venue. “Apart from the fact that it’s so difficult for me to do a ‘normal’ show in this abnormal place (I should say it’s impossible, I can’t book a show, I can’t go out of town for a tour)… I think this situation of being stripped down is probably the best time for me to learn how to be a singer again,” Ho said in a Facebook post to fans on Monday. Police are currently in possession of the singer’s passport as she was arrested on charges of sedition in connection with t...
Hong Kong Free Press
It is “extremely regretful” that Hong Kong has not seen any labour rights marches since 2019, the chairperson of one of the last remaining opposition parties has said as the city marked its fifth Labour Day without protests. Chan Po-ying, leader of the League of Social Democrats (LSD), told HKFP on Thursday that the government tended to side with employers on labour issues and was slow to respond to workers’ demands. She added that the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions (FTU), a pro-establishment group and the city’s largest union, was not doing enough on behalf of the city’s low-wage earner...
Hong Kong Free Press
The Court of Appeal will hear an appeal by the Department of Justice (DoJ) in November, as they challenge an earlier decision to clear Democratic Party Lo Kin-hei of an unlawful assembly charge linked to the 2019 protests and unrest. According to the court diary, the case will be heard on November 20, with proceedings expected to last one day. Following his acquittal by the District Court in November 2022, the DoJ launched a bid to appeal on December 5, 2022. Two days later, on December 7, Lo was re-arrested and brought to the High Court. The High Court judge granted bail to Lo with a cash amo...
Hong Kong Free Press
A Hong Kong court will hear an appeal from the head of the city’s largest journalist group Ronson Chan in November, more than a year after he was sentenced to five days in prison over obstructing a police officer while reporting. Chan, the chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), is scheduled to challenge his conviction and sentencing at the High Court on November 19, according to the Judiciary’s website. The veteran journalist’s case relates to an incident in September 2022, when Chan was reporting on a homeowners’ committee meeting at MacPherson Stadium in Mong Kok. He was stop...
Hong Kong Free Press
A Hong Kong court has upheld a lower judge’s decision that the city’s courts do not have jurisdiction over the national security committee, effectively barring media mogul Jimmy Lai from challenging the government after it forbid him from hiring a British lawyer for his trial. Three Court of Appeal judges sided with the High Court judge’s decision, per a written judgement published on Monday. Lai’s lawyer Philip Dykes had construed the relevant text in the national security law, as well as the interpretation Beijing issued in December 2022, in a “contrived manner,” the judges wrote. The appeal...
Hong Kong Free Press
閲覧を続けるには、ノアドット株式会社が「プライバシーポリシー」に定める「アクセスデータ」を取得することを含む「nor.利用規約」に同意する必要があります。
「これは何?」という方はこちら