First individuals arrested under Article 23 legislation for posting allegedly seditious content on social media

Today, the Hong Kong national security police detained five women and one man for allegedly posting seditious content on social media. This marks the first round of arrests under the Safeguarding National Security Bill, known as ‘Article 23 legislation’, since the bill was swiftly passed by the Hong Kong Legislative Council on 19 March 2024.

According to the police, one of the women was alleged to have worked with the other five to repeatedly publish anonymous “seditious” posts on social media. The posts allegedly incite “hatred against the central and Hong Kong governments, as well as the Judiciary”. Police searched the homes of the arrestees and seized electronic devices suspected of being used to publish the allegedly seditious posts.

Under Article 23 legislation, crimes related to sedition are punishable for up to seven years’ imprisonment. The legislation also contains vaguely-worded provisions that threaten to dramatically undermine due process and fair trial rights in Hong Kong, which may affect this case.

On 26 March 2024, Article 23 legislation was first retroactively applied to the sentence of pro-democracy activist Ma Chun-man. Mr Ma was expected to be released 48 hours after the new security legislation went into effect, but the loss of the previous one-third remission for the good behaviour of prisoners under Article 23 legislation led to Mr Ma spending at least 20 more months behind bars. 

Immediately following the passage of Article 23, a cross-party international coalition of 90 parliamentarians and public figures issued a statement condemning the Hong Kong government’s passage of the bill and calling on supportive governments to unite against this “flagrant breach of the Basic Law of Hong Kong, the Sino-British Joint Declaration, and international human rights law”.

Benedict Rogers, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong Watch, said:

“Hong Kong Watch condemns the first round of arrests under the dangerous Article 23 legislation. We should take seriously the plan of the Hong Kong authorities to criminalise perfectly acceptable and peaceful activities that are in line with international human rights law, and respond accordingly. 

Following the first arrests under Article 23 legislation, the UK government should declare the bill to be a breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration. The UK government should also impose sanctions on Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee to hold him to account for the development and enactment of this bill that violates the Joint Declaration and international law. We must respond with robust measures that signal to the Beijing and Hong Kong authorities that we will not tolerate escalated threats to human rights and the values we hold dear in Hong Kong and the greater diaspora.”

香港國安首次動用23條拘捕六人 香港監察促英政府制裁李家超

今天，香港國安處以涉嫌在社交媒體上發布具煽動意圖的帖文，拘捕了五名女子和一名男子。這是自香港立法會於2024年3月19日迅速通過《維護國家安全條例》（俗稱23條）以來，國安處首次動用法例展開拘捕行動。

警方指，其中一名女子涉嫌與其餘五人合作，多次在社交媒體上發布匿名「具煽動意圖」的帖文，又稱這些帖文「挑起市民對中央政府、特區政府及司法機構的憎恨」。警方搜查了被捕人士的住所，並檢取了涉嫌用作發布具煽動意圖帖文的電子器材。

香港監察共同創辦人兼行政總監羅傑斯（Benedict Rogers）表示：

「香港監察譴責國安處以危險的23條展開首輪拘捕行動。我們務必認真對待香港當局把一些完全可以接受、和平，以及符合國際人權法的活動定性為罪行，並作出回應。

香港警方首次根據23條進行拘捕行動，英國政府應宣布條例違反《中英聯合聲明》。英國政府也應對香港行政長官李家超實施制裁，就他制訂並頒布這項違反《聯合聲明》和國際法的法例追究責任。我們必須採取強而有力的措施回應，向北京和香港當局發出信號，表明我們不會容忍任何對人權及香港和海外離散港人所珍視價值的加劇威脅。」