Sedition in Hong Kong

Source: NYT (9/27/24)
This Is What Can Land You in Jail for Sedition in Hong Kong
Three men were the first to be convicted under the city’s recently expanded national security law, which has greatly curtailed political speech.
By David Pierson and Tiffany May

Wearing a T-shirt with a protest slogan.

Scrawling pro-democracy graffiti on public bus seats.

Criticizing Xi Jinping on social media.

Three men in Hong Kong were sentenced to prison last week for these acts of protest, which in another era probably would have drawn little notice — showing the power of a newly expanded national security law aimed at muzzling dissent.

The rulings, rendered over two days by a judge whom Hong Kong’s leader handpicked, highlight the political transformation that has taken place here.

A financial center and a city accustomed to freedom of political expression, Hong Kong now more closely resembles mainland China, where criticism of the ruling Communist Party is rarely, if ever, tolerated.

China agreed to preserve Hong Kong’s “lifestyle” for 50 years after the territory’s return to Beijing from British colonial rule in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” formula. But demands for greater democracy, culminating in antigovernment demonstrations that engulfed the city in 2019, led to a political crackdown that has eliminated virtually all public opposition to Beijing. A once freewheeling news media has also been silenced. Two editors who led the now-defunct Stand News were the first journalists in decades to be convicted of sedition.

“We are still in the midst of the national security reordering of the civic space in Hong Kong,” said Thomas Kellogg, executive director of the Georgetown Center for Asian Law. “Public debate and discussion is a shadow of its former self, and the government will continue to use its national security tool kit to police what people say and write.”

First Convictions Under New National Security Legislation

The three men were the first to be convicted and sentenced to prison under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, which was passed in March at the behest of Beijing by a legislature lacking any opposition lawmakers. The legislation had previously been shelved for two decades because of fierce local opposition.

Sometimes referred to as Article 23, the ordinance augments an existing national security law imposed by China in 2020 in response to the protests a year earlier. At least 303 people have been arrested, and 176 individuals and five companies charged, under both laws, according to Hong Kong’s Security Bureau.

The Safeguarding National Security Ordinance targets political crimes like treason and insurrection, imposing penalties that include life imprisonment. It also covers offenses such as “external interference” and theft of state secrets.

The three were all convicted under a part of the ordinance targeting sedition, which the law describes as “hatred, contempt or disaffection” for China and the Hong Kong government. It replaced a colonial-era anti-sedition law by increasing penalties to as much as seven years in prison, up from two. If the person “colludes with an external force” the sentence can be as long as 10 years.

Pleading Guilty to Slogans

The first man sentenced last week was Chu Kai-pong, 27, arrested in June at a subway station for wearing a T-shirt that said, “Free Hong Kong” in English and “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times,” a popular protest slogan, in Chinese. Mr. Chu pleaded guilty and received a 14-month prison sentence from Chief Magistrate Victor So Wai-tak, one of more than two dozen judges believed to have been selected by Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee to handle national security cases.

Shortly after Mr. Chu’s ruling, Judge So sentenced Chung Man-kit to 10 months in jail for scrawling “seditious” graffiti on public bus seats between March and April. Mr. Chung, 29, pleaded guilty to writing slogans such as “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times” and “Hong Kong independence, the only way out.” Mr. Chung told the police investigating his case that he wrote the slogans believing he had the right to criticize the government because of free speech protections.

The day after Mr. Chung’s sentencing, Au Kin-wai, 58, pleaded guilty to “knowingly publishing publications that had a seditious intention” on social media. Mr. Au, who had no more than 20 online followers, got a 14-month sentence for his crime, which included hundreds of antigovernment posts on Facebook, YouTube and X.

Mr. Kellogg said, outside of vandalism, the three men’s offenses would not be considered “legally actionable in most other, rights-respecting jurisdictions” because they would be deemed acceptable political speech.

Setting an Example

Judge So and the Hong Kong government said the men’s actions were aimed at stirring hatred and contempt for the authorities, and that their convictions needed to deter others.

“If the law does not intervene early and individual inciting behaviors are condoned, the cumulative effect will eventually cause society to fall into chaos again,” Judge So said in Mr. Chu’s ruling.

The Hong Kong government said in a statement that the convictions showed that “clear lines” had been drawn between “unlawful seditious acts and expressions, and lawful constructive criticisms under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance.”

Legal experts, however, said any criticism of the government could now be considered risky.

“The authorities,” said Eva Pils, a professor in international human rights law at FAU Nuremberg, Germany, “have constructed a tight net to catch everyone.”

David Pierson covers Chinese foreign policy and China’s economic and cultural engagement with the world. He has been a journalist for more than two decades. More about David Pierson

Tiffany May is a reporter based in Hong Kong, covering the politics, business and culture of the city and the broader region. More about Tiffany May