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 stopped by a plainclothes police officer who said he was acting “suspiciously” and asked to see his identification card.
After allegedly failing to comply with requests to present his identification despite multiple warnings, he was arrested on suspicion of obstructing a police officer.
Chan pleaded not guilty last May and was convicted last September. The magistrate judge, Leung Ka-kie, said she believed Chan had deliberately stopped the police officer from carrying out her duties and that his persistent questioning of police when they asked for his identification was “reckless and unreasonable.”
Chan’s lawyer said after Leung handed down the guilty verdict that the journalist would appeal. Chan was granted bail pending appeal on conditions including a HK$30,000 bail amount and handing over his travel documents, meaning he has not been able to leave Hong Kong.
‘Appalling’ jail sentence
A veteran journalist, Chan is currently a reporter for online outlet Channel C. He formerly worked as independent outlet Stand News, which was forced to cease operations in December 2021 after its newsroom was raided by police officers from the National Security Department and seven people linked to it were arrested.
Chan’s arrest and sentencing were condemned by press freedom watchdogs.
During his trial last September, Chan testified that he was rushing to a homeowners’ meeting. He said he knew he could not refuse an officer’s order to show his identity card, but was worried his privacy would be breached.
Chan said he had once had his identity card displayed during a live stream. He was referring to an incident during a protest in 2019, when an officer who asked to see Chan’s identity card held the card in front of his camera, which was live streaming to thousands of viewers.
When delivering the verdict, Leung said she did not accept that Chan was concerned about a privacy breach as the police officer was not holding any equipment that would have allowed that.
The judge acknowledged that there were inconsistencies in the testimonies of the four police officers who gave evidence in court. The defence had also cast doubt on the reliability of the police accounts of the incident.
But Leung said this did not undermine their credibility, as the officers had arrived on the scene at different times and had different interactions with Chan.
Press freedom in Hong Kong has come under the spotlight since the passing of Beijing’s national security law in June 2020, following months of protests under a controversial extradition bill. Since then, independent newsrooms Apple Daily and Stand News have shut.
See also: Explainer: The decline of Hong Kong’s press freedom under the national security law
Media mogul Jimmy Lai, who founded Apple Daily, was arrested under the security law and is currently on trial on charges of allegedly conspiring to collude with foreign forces and conspiring to publish “seditious” materials.
Last week, the HKJA’s fundraising concert was forced to move online after the group said it had to call off its live concert due to unforeseen circumstances.
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