Biweekly political prisoner trial developments in Hong Kong (16 September - 27 September)
Development 1: Hong Kong sentences Stand News editors to 21 months and 11 months in prison under sedition laws
On 26 September, Judge Kwok Wai-kin of the Wanchai District Court sentenced Stand News’ former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen and former acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam to 21 months and 11 months in prison, respectively. They were sentenced under colonial-era sedition laws, the first time such laws have been applied to journalists since the handover in 1997.
Mr Chung and Mr Lam have spent over 12 months in jail already, following their arrests on 29 December 2021. Mr Lam will be released immediately due to a serious medical condition.
Both editors pleaded not guilty to the charge of “conspiracy to publish seditious material”, an offence under colonial-era sedition laws that had, until recently, fallen into disuse in Hong Kong. They faced a maximum sentence of two years in prison and a fine of HK$5,000 (US$642) each.
Stand News was a prominent online pro-democracy non-profit digital news outlet which ceased operations and deleted its website in December 2021 after its newsroom was raided by over 200 national security police officers. The paper has been defunct since.
In response to the landmark verdict which will have implications for other journalists accused of sedition, Lord Patten of Barnes, the last Governor of Hong Kong and Patron of Hong Kong Watch, said: “At the time of the handover in 1997, I would never have thought that Hong Kong’s archaic sedition laws would one day be used, for the first time in nearly 30 years, to prosecute journalists for doing their job. The existence of these laws is an embarrassment; their use to target journalists is an outrage. Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee should be ashamed, and the UK government should make sure it does everything in its power to secure the freedom of British citizen Jimmy Lai, also on trial in Hong Kong for the crime of conspiracy to commit journalism.”
Development 2: First two convictions under Article 23 legislation: Jail sentences for wearing, writing and posting ‘seditious’ pro-democracy slogans
On 19 September, the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts in Hong Kong issued the first sentencing under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance (SNSO), known colloquially as ‘Article 23 legislation’. Chu Kai-pong, at 27 years of age, was handed a 14-month jail sentence for wearing a “seditious” T-shirt for 25 minutes.
Magistrate Victor So ruled that Mr Chu, in wearing a T-shirt with the slogan ‘Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times’, and a yellow mask with an acronym standing for ‘Five demands, not one less’, both phrases associated with the 2019 pro-democracy movement, had intended to “stir up hatred” against the Hong Kong government.
Mr Chu was arrested on 12 June and convicted on 16 September after he pleaded guilty to one count of “doing with a seditious intention an act or acts that had a seditious intention” under the SNSO.
The sentencing of Mr Chu was followed on the same day by that of 29-year-old Chung Man-kit, who was arrested on 23 June under the SNSO for “writing words with seditious intention on multiple occasions on the back of bus seats on different public buses in March and April”. He pleaded guilty to three counts of “doing with a seditious intention an act or acts that had a seditious intention,” and was sentenced to 10 months behind bars.
The following day marked the third sentencing under the SNSO, in which 58-year-old Au Kin-wai was sentenced to 14 months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty for “knowingly publishing publications that had a seditious intention” on various social media platforms. His online comments involved exercising his rightful freedoms of speech and expression, as he referred to Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee as dictators and urged them to step down.
Under the SNSO, which was passed by the Hong Kong government in March 2024 and condemned around the world, sedition carries a maximum penalty of seven years in jail, or 10 years if the offender is found to have colluded with an “external force”.
Hong Kong Watch strongly condemns both of these sentences, and urges the international community to issue targeted sanctions against the responsible Hong Kong officials.
Development 3: Jimmy Lai’s international legal team file appeal with United Nations and former Next Digital executives file challenge against BDO amid reports Mr Lai is denied Holy Communion
Following Jimmy Lai’s international legal team submitting an urgent appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on torture and two former Next Digital executives filing a legal challenge against BDO for helping Hong Kong authorities liquidate Next Digital, The Pillar reported that Mr Lai – a devout Catholic – has now been banned from receiving Holy Communion from priests who occasionally visit him. He has been denied the sacrament since his current trial began.
Already, the appeal highlights Mr Lai’s prolonged detention in solitary confinement for over three and a half years in Hong Kong, and denial of access to independent medical care. Mr Lai, aged 76 and a British citizen, suffers from diabetes and has experienced significant weight loss and increasing frailty since being imprisoned for peacefully advocating for democracy. He is routinely held in his cell for 23 hours 10 minutes each day, with only 50 minutes for restricted exercise and limited human contact or access to daylight.
The appeal to the UN also details the grossly disproportionate imprisonment for entirely peaceful acts in Hong Kong. A statement from Mr Lai’s international legal team says, “Mr Lai is being accused of practising journalism, speaking to politicians about politics, and raising concerns about accountability for human rights violations in Hong Kong.”
Mr Lai founded the now-defunct newspaper Apple Daily, the largest pro-democracy newspaper in Hong Kong. Mr Lai has already served several prison sentences on multiple charges, including 13 months for lighting a candle and saying a prayer at a vigil to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre. He now faces three charges under the Beijing-imposed Hong Kong National Security Law which carries a maximum punishment of life in prison, and one charge for “conspiracy to publish seditious publications” under the colonial-era sedition law. His trial began on 18 December 2023, and is expected to resume on 20 November 2024.
Last week, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee hosted the event “Honouring Jimmy Lai: A Stand for Democracy and Free Speech in Hong Kong” which recognised nearly four years since Mr Lai’s wrongful imprisonment. Members of the Congress honoured Lai’s activism for democracy and free speech, highlighted the cases of other prisoners of conscience in Hong Kong, and called for the immediate release of Mr Lai and all others who are unjustly held by the Hong Kong government.
Development 4: General Union of Hong Kong Speech Therapists required to pay HK$116,000 to government on national security grounds
In September 2022, five speech therapists were found guilty and each sentenced to 19 months’ imprisonment for “publishing seditious material” under Hong Kong’s colonial-era law over a series of children’s books depicting a “sheep village” under attack from “wolves”. You can access and read the books for free, in English, Cantonese, and Mandarin, here.
Now more than two years later, the General Union of Hong Kong Speech Therapists, for which the five sentenced therapists were executive committee members, has been ordered to pay the government HK$116,000 (US$14,900) on national security grounds.
Anthony Chan of the Hong Kong Justice Department said, “Publishing the ‘sheep village’ children’s books and distributing them for free was the union’s most apparent instance of acts endangering national security.” The Justice Department also claimed that the Union had political motives, and cited its “criminal” activities including establishing a platform in schools, hospitals and residential homes for the people of Hong Kong to freely discuss “issues posed by those in power”.
The allegedly criminal activities of the Union, including engaging with civil society on the issues that matter most to them and being connected to the publication of children’s books, are permissible under international human rights law, including within the scope of Hong Kong’s international legal obligations.