Former Hong Kong district councillor Derek Chu has been arrested on suspicion of promoting pension fund plans without a valid intermediary license.

The police force told HKFP that the Sham Shui Po District’s crime unit arrested a 46-year-old man in Sha Tin on Tuesday on suspicion of breaching the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) Schemes Ordinance.

“By court order, authorities conducted searches at the arrested person’s residence and office premises, seizing relevant documents and electronic communication devices,” a police spokesperson said.

The police added that the man was currently detained for investigation, and that further arrests were not ruled out.

Citing sources, local media outlet Ming Pao reported earlier on Tuesday morning that Chu was arrested on suspicion of promoting pension fund schemes without a valid license.

Other outlets including Sing Tao and government-owned broadcaster RTHK cited sources saying the force would carry out investigations in Kwun Tong, Mong Kok, and Tai Kok Tsui.

Local media outlets published photos of him entering a Kwun Tong office building with police officers at around noon on Tuesday.

In a reply to HKFP, the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority said people must register with the authority as an MPF intermediary before they can promote or sell pension fund schemes, and that it is a criminal offense to do so without a valid license.

A former district councillor Yau Tsim Mong district councillor, Chu was ousted from the District Council in September 2021 after his pledge of allegiance to the government was deemed invalid.

The former councillor distributed electronic candles on June 4 last year to mark the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989. He runs the online shopping platform AsOne, the proceeds of which are used to support jailed protesters.

Ahead of the crackdown anniversary this year, a private screening of a documentary organised by Chu was cancelled after police questioned him over his plans. The documentary, called To Be Continued, traces the history and culture of the State Theatre building in North Point, and its founder Harry Odell.

Plans to overhaul the District Council elections were unveiled in May 2023 to ensure only “patriots” are elected, following a pro-democracy landslide at the last polls in 2019. The number of seats chosen democratically by the public will be slashed to around 20 per cent, with the rest chosen by the city’s leader, government-appointed committees and officials.

Constituency boundaries will be redrawn and each local council will be chaired by a government official, similar to colonial-era arrangements. All candidates will undergo national security vetting to ensure patriotism.

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Former Democratic Party lawmaker Lam Cheuk-ting, along with six other co-defendants, pleaded not guilty on Monday to rioting during the Yuen Long mob attack in July 2019. Meanwhile, two news clips of protests in other parts of the city were admitted as evidence to reveal the “overall circumstances” at the time.

Lam was arrested in August 2020 and charged with with participating in a riot in Yuen Long on July 21, 2019. That night, dozens of rod-wielding men wearing white shirts – reportedly with triad connections – gathered in Yuen Long MTR station, attacking commuters and protesters.

Lam, who was among those assaulted, was accused of going to Yuen Long with the express purpose of provoking the white-clad men.

Wearing a suit jacket over a white shirt, he appeared before Judge Stanley Chan at the District Court on Monday morning alongside Yu Ka-ho, Jason Chan, Yip Kam-sing, Kwong Ho-lam, Wan Chung-ming, and Marco Yeung. All seven pleaded not guilty.

Standing in the dock, Lam said: “I did not participate in a riot, I plead not guilty,” to which Judge Chan replied that the case was a criminal proceeding, and that defendants did not need to say anything other than whether they pleaded guilty or not.

Lam has been remanded in custody since March 2021 over a separate national security case. The democrat, along with 46 other pro-democracy figures – including lawmakers and activists – stands accused of conspiring to commit subversion over his role in an unofficial primary election for the 2020 Legislative Council election, which was later postponed.

Relevance of HK Island protests

On Monday, the prosecution played two news broadcast clips of protests on the day of the Yuen Long attack to demonstrate the “broader environment” surrounding the rioting allegations.

Protests erupted in June 2019 over a since-axed extradition bill. They escalated into sometimes violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s encroachment. Demonstrators demanded an independent probe into police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.” 

The prosecution claimed that the seven defendants had arrived in Yuen Long that night by MTR from Central, Causeway Bay, Wanchai, and Tsim Sha Tsui. Other districts including Admiralty and Sheung Wan also saw violent protests that evening.

Lam’s lawyer said she did not doubt the accuracy of the news reports, but called into question whether protests on Hong Kong Island were relevant to the case at hand.

She argued that protests in other parts of the city could not have had a direct effect on what happened in Yuen Long that night, and that the prejudicial effect brought about by the news clips would outweigh their evidential value, threatening the fairness of the trial.

She also said the prosecution was trying to “cast a wide net” by entering video clips irrelevant to its own submission, which only contained details about Yuen Long.

Judge Chan eventually admitted the two videos as evidence, saying that the court could not consider the Yuen Long incident in isolation from the protests that were happening across the city. He said the news clips were relevant to the case, and were an objective record of what had happened.

The hearing continues on Wednesday.

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Hong Kong customs seized around HK$12 million of suspected cocaine weighing about 11 kilograms from a 51-year-old male air passenger on Sunday.

The man had entered from the Caribbean island of Sint Maarten via Paris, France, with the suspected drugs concealed in his wheelchair.

“Customs officers found the batch of suspected cocaine concealed inside the interlinings of the cushions and the back of his check-in electric wheelchair. The man was subsequently arrested,” a Customs and Excise press release said on Sunday.

Those found to have trafficked dangerous drugs into Hong Kong face a maximum penalty of life in prison and a HK$5 million fine.

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Hong Kong’s anti-graft watchdog has arrested 20 people on suspicion of withdrawing money out of their government pension funds using forged paperwork, sparking controversy among Hongkongers now residing in the UK.

According to a statement issued by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) on Friday, some 10 Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) scheme members and one insurance agent were among the 20 individuals arrested by the commission operation.

The arrestees, who have been released on bail, allegedly presented documents falsely indicating they would be leaving Hong Kong to reside in mainland China.

MPF scheme members can ordinarily only withdraw contributions when they reach the age of 65. According to the Mandatory Provident Fund Schemes Authority, scheme members who can demonstrate that they have left the city permanently can withdraw their money early.

Hong Kong has seen a mass emigration wave in the wake of Beijing imposing a national security law and strict Covid-19 rules even as they were abandoned around the world.

Among the top destinations is the UK, which launched a British National (Overseas) visa immigration route in July 2020. Under the scheme, BNO passport holders and their dependents can apply for permanent residency after living in the UK for five years. After one more year, they can apply for British citizenship.

MPF authorities said in 2021 after Hong Kong stopped recognising the BN(O) passport that scheme members “cannot rely on BN(O) passport or its associated visa as evidence in support of an application for early withdrawal of MPF.”

While the ICAC did not say those arrested had settled in the UK, local media cited sources saying that some Hong Kong migrants who had moved to Britain made an early MPF withdrawal by claiming they were relocating to mainland China, and that they could otherwise not get their money.

The insurance agent, which the ICAC said “masterminded” the operation, had allegedly accepted bribe payments ranging from several thousand dollars to several ten thousand dollars from each applicant in exchange for applying to withdraw their pension funds early using false documents.

“Such applications involved the use of false documents including statutory declarations and proofs of employment or residence in the Mainland,” the anti-graft watchdog’s statement read.

Investigation ongoing

The commission’s statement came after overseas outlet The Chaser reported on Friday that UK-based BN(O) passport holders had withdrawn their MPF money in Britain through an agent from insurance company Sun Life Financial, after making a sworn declaration with a lawyer’s help that they would permanently leave Hong Kong.

The agent then prepared documents indicating that they would be relocating to mainland China or other cities in order to withdraw their pension funds.

In the Friday statement, the ICAC said an investigation was ongoing, and that it would seek advice from the Department of Justice to decide whether to prosecute the arrestees.

According to government data, residents who permanently left Hong Kong withdrew HK$1.79 billion from their MPF accounts in the second quarter of 2023 — a 15.5 percent drop year on year.

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A mainland Chinese postgraduate student has been deported from Hong Kong after completing a six-month prison term over a sedition charge related to plans to display a Tiananmen banner.

Twenty-three year old law student Zeng Yuxuan had been in remand since this June over a separate sedition charge for allegedly mourning the death of Leung Kin-fai, who stabbed a police officer on July 1, 2021 before taking his own life.

Zeng’s full name was mentioned in the Security Bureau’s statement on Thursday, which read that she was “removed from Hong Kong” in accordance with the Immigration Ordinance. The bureau cited a clause in the ordinance stating that removal orders may be made against “an undesirable immigrant who has not been ordinarily resident in Hong Kong for 3 years or more.”

Her initial sedition charge was withdrawn, and Zeng was instead convicted in September after pleading guilty to attempting to do an act with a seditious intention by planning to display a large banner relating to a 1989 Tiananmen monument on the anniversary of the crackdown.

Pillar of Shame

The banner display was part of an international campaign led by Jens Galschiøt, the Danish artist who created the the Pillar of Shame – an eight-metre sculpture commemorating the victims who died in the 1989 crackdown.

The sculpture was quietly removed by the University of Hong Kong citing safety concerns in December 2021. It had stood on the campus for 24 years before the removal.

In May, it was seized by the city’s national security police as evidence for an incitement to subversion case involving the organiser of Hong Kong’s annual Tiananmen crackdown vigil and its three leading members Lee Cheuk-yan, Albert Ho, and Chow Hang-tung.

The court heard that Zeng had done “meticulous planning” to showcase the banner as she had brought tools, conducted site checks, and booked a nearby hotel room. She also informed the press about the plan to raise publicity and came up with contingency plans in case she botched the plan.

Sedition is not covered by the Beijing-imposed national security law, which targets secession, subversion, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts and mandates up to life imprisonment. Those convicted under the sedition law – last amended in the 1970s when Hong Kong was still a British colony – face a maximum penalty of two years in prison.

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A Hong Kong man who displayed a British colonial flag during a FIFA World Cup qualification match was taken aside by police.

Around 15 minutes before the match, a man wearing a hat and a white shirt held up Hong Kong’s colonial-era flag in the Hong Kong Stadium’s spectator stand. He was soon approached by at least two plainclothes police officers and led away, Yahoo News reported.

Police then searched the man’s bag, according to photos by online media outlet The Collective.

In response to HKFP, the police said in a statement that they identified a 21-year-old man who “displayed a flag” when police were maintaining order at the stadium.

“Our staff therefore approached the man for further investigation. No one was arrested in the incident,” a police spokesperson told HKFP in Cantonese.

Police did not reply as to why the man was taken away and whether he returned to the spectator stand afterwards.

The colonial flag, emblazoned with the Union Jack and a dragon and lion motif, was adopted by the colonial government as Hong Kong’s flag from 1959 to 1997 before the city was returned to China.

The flag was waved occasionally at assemblies and marches during the 2019 protests and unrest. During the July 1 storming of the Legislative Council building in 2019, some protestors hung the flag on the podium after breaking into the building.

Tam Yiu-chung, a pro-Beijing politician who is a former member of the Standing Committee of National People’s Congress, told media outlets in May 2020 – ahead of the national security law’s enactment – that he believed waving the colonial flag during marches would violate the legislation.

In November last year, a citizen journalist who waved the colonial flag while the Chinese national anthem was being played was sentenced to three-months’ jail for insulting the anthem. The incident, during which people were gathered at a mall to watch an Olympics medal ceremony, marked the first conviction under the National Anthem Ordinance which came into effect in 2020.

National anthem booed

Hong Kong matches have sometimes become platforms for political demonstrations in recent years.

Hong Kong football fans were heard booing China’s national anthem in September last year at Hong Kong Stadium, when the city saw its first match that was open to spectators after the government lifted Covid-19 restrictions.

A team of six policemen patrolled the stadium, with one holding up a video camera recording the scene as some fans booed “March of the Volunteers” for about 10 seconds before the Hong Kong team took on Myanmar, AFP reported.

During two Asian qualifiers for the World Cup in November 2019, when Hong Kong played against Bahrain and Cambodia, spectators also booed the national anthem. FIFA later fined the Hong Kong Football Association 30,000 Swiss francs (HK$30,500).

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A Hong Kong lawyer has challenged his conviction and seven-day jail sentence for obstructing police outside a court in March 2021, when 47 pro-democracy figures faced a marathon bail hearing under the national security law.

Solicitor Leo Yau appeared before Judge Johnny Chan on Thursday in a bid to convince the court to quash his conviction and sentence for obstructing police officers outside the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on March 1, 2021.

On that day, hundreds of people lined up outside the courthouse in Sham Shui Po to show support for former lawmakers, ex-district councillors and other activists charged with conspiracy to commit subversion under the Beijing-imposed security law.

The landmark case saw the democrats and their legal representatives staying in court until after midnight as the defendants took turns to apply for bail pending trial. The bail hearing eventually lasted for four days, with a majority of defendants having been detained since then.

Yau, who represented defendants including former district council members Ben Chung and Andrew Chiu, was said to have deliberately obstructed the police at around 9 pm on March 1, 2021 by refusing to produce identification in an area cordoned off by the police. He was found guilty and jailed for seven days in 2022.

‘The magistrate did not err’

On Thursday Yau’s representative, barrister David Ma, argued that there was no evidence before the trial magistrate to explain why the force had to set up a cordoned area on that day. Although the 47 democrats case was sensitive and attracted media and public attention, only a handful of people remained outside the court when Yau was stopped by the police, he said. The magistrate had not considered whether it was still suitable to maintain the cordoned area at 9 pm, when no one was gathering, the lawyer argued.

“No matter how many people were inside the court, it did not amount to a public procession,” Ma told Judge Chan when he argued that the police power to set up a cordoned area did not apply when there were very few people outside the courthouse.

Senior Public Prosecutor Winnie Mok said Ma, who also represented Yau at the trial, had repeatedly told the magistrate that the legality of police enforcement on the day was not a matter the defence was concerned about. It was why the magistrate had not invited both the prosecution and the defence to make submissions on this point, she said.

“The magistrate did not err,” she said.

Ma went on to argue that his client had genuinely believed that the police had no power to bar him from entering the courthouse. Even if he was wrong in this belief, the trial magistrate should still have considered this as a factor in his defence.

Yau also repeatedly told the police that he was a lawyer, and the court should have taken into account his out-of-court statements, including his calls to the 999 emergency line asking for assistance after he was barred from entering the court.

The obstruction created by Yau was also “not very serious,” Ma argued, adding the interaction he had with the force lasted for around two minutes and three seconds. He called on Judge Chan to review the conviction and sentence.

Mok said the magistrate had already acknowledged Yau’s occupation in the judgement and Ma’s team had not cited legal precedents to back his point that the court should have attached more weight to this argument. Yau also did not give evidence during the trial, she said, which meant the court could only review his actions based on video footage, which showed he argued with the police.

Police made a simple request for Yau’s identification proof and he did not comply, Mok said.

“The magistrate could see the act of the defendant. It was a judgement based on evidence,” she said.

She questioned what grounds the police had to believe Yau was in fact a lawyer when he refused to produce proof, adding the lawyer had mistakenly told the emergency line operator that he was working on a rioting case rather than the democrats’ national security case.

“Not everyone wearing a suit and holding a pile of paper could claim they are lawyers,” the Department of Justice representative said.

Chan adjourned his decision to January 12 next year.

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The salaries of close to 200 judges and judicial officers in Hong Kong are set to rise by 3.62 per cent. The proposed increase came after a report by the Judicial Committee in July said national security cases and those linked to the 2019 protests posed “mounting challenges” to the Judiciary’s resources and manpower.

Advisors of Hong Kong leader John Lee approved the recommendation from the Judicial Committee to raise the wage of judges and judicial officers for 2023-24, with a retrospective effect from April 1, the government said in a press release on Wednesday. The pay rise remained subject to final approval from the Finance Committee of the Legislative Council.

The recommended wage hike of 3.62 per cent was decided based on a “basket of factors,” the government said, including the responsibility, working conditions and workload of judges compared to those of lawyers in private practice, as well as recruitment and retention in the Judiciary.

The security of tenure, the prestigious status and high esteem of the judicial offices, the ban against returning to private practice in the city, and the pay levels in the private and public sectors were also taken into consideration by the committee, the government said.

“In coming up with its recommendation on judicial pay for 2023-24, the Judicial Committee premised its deliberations on the need to uphold the principle of judicial independence,” the government statement read.

As of last Sunday, Hong Kong had 192 judges and judicial officers in the Court of Final Appeal, the High Court, the District Court, Lands Tribunal, Magistrates’ Courts and other tribunals, according to the Judiciary’s website.

The highest paid judge in Hong Kong is Andrew Cheung, chief justice of the Court of Final Appeal, who earns HK$397,100 a month, according to a report released by the Judicial Committee in July.

The lowest monthly salary on the judicial service pay scale stood at HK$95,865 for special magistrates, which the committee said was being phased out.

Workload

The committee said in July that pressure from judicial work was felt especially at the levels of the High Court and the District Court. The former had to handle a large number of non-refoulement claims, with 1,149 claims made between January and September this year according to figures from the Immigration Department .

The High Court also handled cases under the Beijing-imposed national security law, which usually involved three judges and longer trial periods than other criminal cases, the committee said.

Three designated High Court judges spent 115 days in court between February and August this year overseeing the high-profile trial relating to 47 pro-democracy figures. The case involving an alleged conspiracy to commit subversion is expected to conclude by the end of this year, after the trial was adjourned in August until November, when the court will hear closing arguments.

The High Court will oversee another closely-watched national security case against pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who faces two counts of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces and one offence linked to allegedly seditious publications. The Apple Daily founder’s trial, which was postponed for a second time to mid-December, is expected to last for around 80 days.

“National Security cases invariably entail longer trials, for which substantial judicial resources have to be expended, thereby impacting the listing of all other criminal cases,” the report read.

The committee said the District Court also saw major challenges brought about by cases linked to the months-long unrest sparked by the since-axed extradition bill in 2019, as they often involved a large number of defendants and lengthy trials.

“These two types of cases have been posing mounting challenges to the Judiciary in terms of judicial resources, manpower support, competing use of court premises and the provision of suitable media and security arrangements,” it said.

Case complexity

The committee added caseload figures did not fully reflect the workload of judges and judicial officers, saying the complexity of cases and time required for trials should be taken into consideration as well.

It also pointed to the high ratio of unrepresented litigants in civil cases, which posed great challenges for judges and judicial officers as they were “not properly assisted” when handling complicated legal issues.

The annual estimated staff cost of the Judiciary for 2023-24 stood at HK$1.63 billion, which accounted for around 0.26 per cent of the government’s total operating expenditure of HK$629.5 billion listed in the 2023-24 estimates.

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Washington, United States

The United States denounced Wednesday the deportation of a prominent human rights lawyer from Laos to his native China, calling for details on his whereabouts and assurances on the ailing activist’s access to medical care.

Lu Siwei was one of the lawyers appointed by families of a Hong Kong activist group that was intercepted by authorities in 2020 while attempting to flee the city by boat to Taiwan.

But after being arrested by Laotian police while en route to Thailand in July, Lu was transported back to China last month, where he is likely to face legal repercussions, a rights group said.

He is now being held at a detention facility in Sichuan, southwestern China, his family told Amnesty International.

“The United States condemns the forced repatriation of People’s Republic of China (PRC) national and human rights lawyer Lu Siwei to the PRC from Laos, at the request of PRC authorities,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement, using China’s official name.

“We call on the PRC to confirm Lu’s current location; allow for external verification by independent observers of Lu’s well-being, including access for doctors to treat Lu’s chronic health condition; and enable his access to a lawyer of his choosing.”

Lu and one other human rights lawyer — Ren Quanniu, who also sought to represent members of the “Hong Kong 12” that attempted to escape to Taiwan — had their legal licenses revoked in 2021 by authorities.

Following the large-scale pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong that erupted in 2019, Beijing has cracked down on legal professionals offering activists representation, in a campaign critics have slammed as an attempt to silence dissent.

Mainland authorities accused Lu of “inappropriate remarks on the internet (and) seriously damaging the lawyer industry’s image”.

But Lu told AFP in 2021 that he believed the accusations were “just a cover” and that his decision to take on several sensitive cases had “marked my destiny”.

Beijing has in recent years also stepped up a campaign targeting its critics abroad.

Last year Spain-based NGO Safeguard Defenders said Beijing had set up 54 overseas “police stations” around the world, allegedly to target Communist Party critics and coerce people into returning to China. Beijing has denied the claims.

“Lu’s reported reappearance in a Chinese detention centre is the latest chilling example of the Chinese government’s determination to pursue its critics even beyond China’s borders,” Amnesty International said.

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Five people have been jailed for up to 37 months for charges linked to their roles in the false imprisonment and beating of a plainclothes police officer in October 2019, during the height of the protests and unrest sparked by a since-axed extradition law.

District Judge Edmond Lee handed down the sentences on Wednesday linked to the group’s participation in what the court ruled a riot on October 13, 2019, during which they falsely imprisoned a plainclothes police officer along with around 30 others.

The five were given sentences between seven months and 37 months.

The incident took place in Tseung Kwan O, where a few dozen protesters set up roadblocks on an intersection. The protesters then surrounded a plainclothes police officer near a park at Tong Chun Street as some began beating him, Lee said in Cantonese.

The officer tried to escape from the crowd, but was chased down by a smaller group of around 10 protesters, including two of the accused. He was further kicked and hit with hard objects, which caused multiple injuries to his head and limbs, Lee said.

Lee ruled that as the plainclothes officer was falsely imprisoned and assaulted by protesters, the unlawful assembly had become a riot, that lasted for two minutes and involved a few dozen protesters. No public facilities were damaged, no others were injured, and there was no evidence to suggest the riot was premediated, Lee said.

“But the seriousness of the incident lies in the false imprisonment and bodily harm done to an on-duty police officer, whose personal safety should be protected by the law,” Lee added.

The five defendants faced various charges including false imprisonment, participating in an unlawful assembly, rioting, breaching a mask ban, and wounding.

Married couple Lau Man-chuen, a 28-year-old construction worker, and Crystal Lam, a 33-year-old company owner, and insurance worker Ng Yuen-ching, 25, pleaded guilty before the trial began in May and consequently had their sentences reduced by a quarter.

Lau was sentenced to a total of 30 months in prison for false imprisonment, wounding, and rioting. Lam was sentenced to seven months in prison for unlawful assembly. Ng was sentenced to 27 months in prison for wounding and rioting.

Lo Ka-yan, a 25-year-old student, was found guilty of false imprisonment and participating in an unlawful assembly. Lui Ngai-kai, a 30-year-old IT worker, was found guilty of false imprisonment, wounding, rioting and breaching the mask ban.

Discretion would also be offered to those found guilty at trial, as the riot in question was of a smaller scale and the police officer did not sustain permanent injuries, Lee said.

Lo was given a total prison term of 10 months. Lui received the heaviest sentence of 37 months.

A sixth defendant in this case, a 17-year-old surnamed Wong, has pleaded guilty in another case in which he and three others – including Tsang Chi-kin, who was shot by the police during the 2019 protests – hid in a safehouse for two years before being arrested and charged for perverting the course of justice. Sentencing in that case is set to be handed down on October 18.

Lee postponed Wong’s sentencing for his role in falsely imprisoning an officer to October 20, while the court awaits reports from rehabilitation centre, detention centre, and training centre.

Protests erupted in June 2019 over a since-axed extradition bill. They escalated into sometimes violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s encroachment. Demonstrators demanded an independent probe into police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.” 

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By Andrew Beatty in Sydney, Australia

China has released Australian journalist Cheng Lei after more than three years, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced on Wednesday, adding she was freed from detention and reunited with her two young children in Melbourne.

“The Australian people very much wanted to see Cheng Lei reunited with her young kids,” Albanese said.

Cheng, a former anchor for Chinese state broadcaster CGTN, had been detained since August 2020.

She was only formally arrested months later and eventually charged with “supplying state secrets overseas” in a case that many saw as politically motivated.

The mother of two had been a familiar face on the state broadcaster’s English-language channel, conducting interviews with noted CEOs from around the world.

Born in Hunan province, Cheng is now an Australian national who emigrated to the country as a child, before returning to China and joining the state broadcaster in 2012.

China does not allow citizens to hold dual nationality.

She was tried behind closed doors, with even Australia’s ambassador to China blocked from entering the court to observe proceedings.

Australia’s government had long campaigned for her release, and for China to follow “basic standards of justice, procedural fairness and humane treatment”.

‘I miss the sun’

She had written about bleak prison conditions in a candid note dictated to Australian officials from jail and released in August.

“I miss the sun,” read the message, described as a “love letter” to Australia. “In my cell, the sunlight shines through the window but I can stand in it for only 10 hours a year.”

Albanese said she had been released after the “completion of legal processes in China”.

Cheng’s case had been a serious point of friction between Canberra and Beijing.

China has repeatedly detained foreign nationals at times of high political tension with their home nations, raising accusations of hostage diplomacy.

Cheng’s case has often been compared with that of Chinese-born Australian writer Yang Jun, who has been detained in China since 2019 on vaguely defined espionage charges.

Albanese said that Cheng’s release would facilitate his visit to China at a “mutually agreed time” this year.

Australia-China relations had been in deep freeze after Canberra barred Chinese tech firm Huawei from lucrative contracts and pushed back against Chinese influence campaigns in Australia.’

China was also furious at Canberra’s calls for an investigation into the origins of the Covid-19 outbreak that killed millions and plunged the world’s economy into a multi-year crisis.

In retaliation, China introduced a swathe of de facto sanctions against Australian products, measures that have been slowly unwound as relations thaw.

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A group of United Nations (UN) experts have said they were “very troubled” over the trial relating to 47 pro-democracy figures under the national security law. They called on China to review the legislation to ensure it adhered to its human rights commitments to the city.

The use of mass trials in national security cases in Hong Kong may undermine the practices for ensuring due process and the right to fair trial, four UN special rapporteurs said in a statement released on Monday.

Their remarks came as the independent experts raised concern over the closely-watched national security case, in which 47 democrats stand accused of taking part in a conspiracy to commit subversion.

At the centre of the case was an unofficial legislative primary election held in July 2020, which aimed to help the pro-democracy camp select the strongest candidates and win a majority in the then-70-seat legislature.

The poll was part of a plan to subvert state power, prosecutors have argued, saying the democrats had intended to abuse legislative powers to indiscriminately veto bills, forcing the chief executive’s resignation and a government shutdown.

A total of 16 defendants who denied the charge have sat in court for 115 days since early February, when the trial began. In August, the proceedings were adjourned to late November for prosecutors and defence lawyers to prepare closing arguments.

The remaining 31 democrats, most of whom have been detained for more than two and a half years, are awaiting sentencing after entering guilty pleas. They all face up to life imprisonment.

“We have expressed our concerns about the NSL to China in the past. We are very troubled about the use of mass trials in NSL cases and how they may negatively affect safeguards that ensure due process and the right to fair trial,” the experts said.

A government spokesperson said in a statement on Monday that the authorities strongly opposed the “erroneous remarks” made by the UN experts. People should refrain from commenting on or interfering with the ongoing court case, they added.

The four UN experts were Margaret Satterthwaite, special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers; Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism; Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, special rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; and Irene Khan, special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression.

They were part of the Special Procedures of the UN Human Rights Council, a body consisting of independent experts who “report and advise on human rights from a thematic or country-specific perspective,” according to the UN.

Arrest warrants for overseas activists

The four experts also pointed to the arrest warrants issued by the Hong Kong government in early July against eight overseas Hongkongers. They were ex-lawmakers Ted Hui and Dennis Kwok; activists Nathan Law, Anna Kwok, Elmer Yuen, Mung Siu-tat and Finn Lau; and solicitor Kevin Yam.

They were accused of breaching the Beijing-enacted security legislation by calling for sanctions on Hong Kong and China, meeting foreign officials, attending international hearings and organising a shadow parliament, among other overseas lobbying acts.

Police placed HK$1 million bounties on each of their heads, vowing to identify their whereabouts and be prepared to make “effective arrests” in case they ever returned to the city.

“The charges appear to seek to punish statements allegedly made by each individual criticising the Chinese government’s policies and their activities in support of democracy in Hong Kong,” the UN experts said on Monday.

They added that professional misconduct complaints against barrister Kwok and solicitor Yam appeared to be aimed at preventing the two from doing their jobs without intimidation and harassment.

Following the arrest warrants and bounties issued, family members of the wanted activists were reportedly questioned by Hong Kong’s national security police. Some were asked whether they had been in touch with the activists and if there had been any financial transactions between them.

The government also defended police actions against the wanted activists in a statement on Monday. The UN experts’ comments “completely disregarded the facts,” the spokesperson said, adding it was an international norm for law enforcement agencies to disclose the details of wanted fugitives.

As of September 15, 279 people had been arrested for suspected acts and activities that endangered national security since the legislation was enacted, the Security Bureau told HKFP last month. Among them, 162 people and five companies had been charged under the national security law or the sedition law, or with other crimes.

Among the 90 people who have been convicted or are awaiting sentencing, 30 were charged under the national security law.

In June 2020, Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution – bypassing the local legislature – following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest. It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts, which were broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure. The move gave police sweeping new powers, alarming democrats, civil society groups and trade partners, as such laws have been used broadly to silence and punish dissidents in China. However, the authorities say it has restored stability and peace to the city.

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The American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Hong Kong has called on the local government to provide “straightforward interpretations and applications” of the national security law in the upcoming Policy Address.

In a 49-page document, the US chamber made a list of suggestions related to the security legislation, talent attraction, trade, financial services, housing and more. It came ahead of Chief Executive John Lee’s second Policy Address, which will be delivered on October 25.

“AmCham encourages the government to publish well-defined guidelines offering straightforward interpretations and applications of the National Security Law,” the chamber wrote. “The Government should seek to reassure the business community that laws related to Hong Kong’s national security will be applied narrowly and consistent with the principles of an independent judiciary.”

Also among the chamber’s calls was for the government to emphasise the “Two Systems” of the city’s “One Country, Two Systems” framework. The city should display tangible examples of “business-friendly regulation and increased governance transparency,” the chamber added.

Beijing imposed a national security law in Hong Kong in June 2020 following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest. It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts, which were broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure.

Last month, US Consul General Gregory May said at a Harvard Project for Asian and International Relations event that the national security law had raised concerns among the American business community, including related to censorship and data transparency.

He added, however, that the city still enjoyed “relative” freedom compared to mainland China, and that US firms were not planning to pull out of the city.

Since the national security law was passed, scores of ex-lawmakers and activists have been charged while dozens of civil society groups and unions have shut citing an atmosphere of fear.

However, the authorities say the security law has restored stability and peace to the city.

International talent drive

The chamber also said it was concerned about the city’s challenges in attracting talent. It said the government’s newly launched Office of Attracting Strategic Enterprises, which aims to lure mainland Chinese and overseas companies, should seek to “attract a diverse and international business community to Hong Kong.”

The Hong Kong government has been on a quest to draw talent to Hong Kong amid a brain drain following the 2019 protests and the Covid pandemic.

Last week, the government held a launch ceremony to welcome 30 “strategic companies” – most from mainland China – who signed partnership agreements to set up or expand their business in Hong Kong. But authorities did not reveal how many of the enterprises were new to the city. Some, among them Lenovo and JD, had long established operations in Hong Kong.

The chamber also advocated further trade liberalisation policies to cement Hong Kong’s role as an international trade hub, for example by entering various free trade agreements such as the Asia-Pacific-based Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.

Speaking at the Hong Kong-ASEAN Summit on Monday, Chief Executive John Lee vowed to enhance cooperation with ASEAN countries and give them greater access to markets in the Greater Bay Area.

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Hong Kong police have reportedly arrested a crypto influencer in connection with a high-profile “fraud” scandal linked to digital asset exchange platform JPEX, as the number of those impacted surpassed 2,530.

A total of 28 people have been apprehended so far over the alleged fraud case concerning the unlicensed crypto exchange platform, police said on Sunday, with reports received from 2,538 people claiming to be victims in the case involving losses of HK$1.56 billion.

According to local media reports citing sources, the latest arrest was 28-year-old influencer Henry Choi, who founded “Hong Coin,” a social media page promoting cryptocurrency with around 20,700 followers on Instagram.

Police said on Sunday that one person had been detained pending investigation, while the remaining 27 had been released on bail without charge.

Choi on Monday cut ties with JPEX and said he would “fully assist” in pushing JPEX to allow for immediate withdrawals of USDT, a cryptocurrency pegged to the US dollar.

“Today, I fully cooperated with a police investigation within Hong Kong’s jurisdiction. I would like to clarify once again that I did not receive any funds nor have I been involved in the JPEX incident. I have no knowledge of the matter,” Choi said in a Chinese-language post, adding he had been travelling amid rumours he had fled the city.

Those arrested were suspected of using false advertising and unlawful means to lure victims to invest through JPEX. The unlicensed platform then imposed restrictions on withdrawal limits and significantly raised withdrawal handling fees, leaving customers unable to withdraw their virtual assets, police alleged.

The authorities first took action against JPEX in mid-September, when police rounded up four men and four women on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud. Among the arrestees aged 22 to 53 were social media influencers Joseph Lam and Chan Yee.

Conspiracy to defraud is punishable by up to 14 years of imprisonment in Hong Kong.

The case surrounding JPEX has cast a shadow over Hong Kong’s embrace of digital assets and revealed regulatory gaps soon after the city rolled out rules requiring crypto exchanges are licensed and meet investor protection standards.

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Hong Kong police have arrested an elderly pro-democracy activist on suspicion of breaching country park regulations, after he displayed a pair of Chinese banners on the Lion Rock ahead of Mid-Autumn festival. Chinese couplets are vertical scrolls showing lines of poetry, often around doorways.

Chan Ki-kau – in his 70s and known as “Grandpa Chan” of a 2019 protest group called Protect Our Kids – was apprehended in Sheung Shui on Thursday, police said. The arrest came after police noticed reports online that a man had displayed signs on Lion Rock on September 28.

A picture on Chan’s Facebook page showed him on Lion Rock holding two scrolls with a Chinese couplet penned by Chinese writer Lu Xun, according to a photo shared by local media outlets. The couplet can be translated as “fierce-browed, I coolly defy a thousand pointing fingers. Head bowed like a willing ox, I serve the children.”

Chan was suspected of violating the Country Parks and Special Areas Regulations. The regulations state that visitors cannot display signs, notices, posters, banners or advertisements in places under the regulations unless they have permission.

Offenders face a fine of up to HK$2,000 and three years imprisonment.

The photo could not be found on his Facebook page when HKFP checked on Sunday afternoon, but a shot that appeared to show Chan was distributed elsewhere online.

He was released on bail and must report back to police in early November.

The activist was often spotted urging calm on the frontlines of demonstrations in 2019, when the city saw protests and unrest sparked by a controversial extradition bill. He also took part in a hunger strike during the early days of the movement.

In January, Chan was ordered to pay around HK$510,000 to the Department of Justice after his application to launch a legal bid against the police over their display of identification during the 2019 protests was dismissed by court.

Chan’s challenge alleged that it was unlawful for police in the Special Tactical Contingent unit, known as “raptors,” to be allowed not to display individual identification numbers while policing.

Correction 4 pm on 9/10/2023: An earlier version of this article incorrectly gave Chan Ki-kau’s age as 76 and 79, we regret the error.

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Washington, United States

A former US Army sergeant was arrested on Friday for seeking to provide classified information to China, the Justice Department said.

Joseph Daniel Schmidt, 29, who served in an army intelligence unit from 2015 until 2020, is charged with retaining national defense information and attempting to deliver it to China.

The Justice Department said Schmidt, after leaving the military, offered national defense information to the Chinese consulate in Turkey and the Chinese security services.

In March 2020, Schmidt, who had access to secret and top secret information while serving in the 109th Military Intelligence Battalion at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, went to Hong Kong, where he “continued his efforts to provide Chinese intelligence with classified information.”

“He allegedly retained a device that allows for access to secure military computer networks and offered the device to Chinese authorities to assist them in efforts to gain access to such networks,” the department said.

Schmidt stayed in China, primarily in Hong Kong, until his return to the United States on Friday. He was arrested upon arrival in San Francisco.

“Members of our military take a sworn oath to defend our country and the Constitution,” acting US attorney Tessa Gorman said.

“In that context the alleged actions of this former military member are shocking –- not only attempting to provide national defense information, but also information that would assist a foreign adversary to gain access to Department of Defense secure computer networks.”

Schmidt could face up to 20 years in prison.

His arrest comes two months after two members of the US Navy were arrested on suspicion of spying for China.

Jinchao Wei, who served on the amphibious assault ship the USS Essex in San Diego, allegedly handed over dozens of documents, photos and videos detailing the operation of ships and their systems.

Petty Officer Wenheng Zhao, who served at a naval base near Los Angeles, allegedly spied for China for nearly two years.

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A Hong Kong man has been jailed for four months under the sedition law after pleading guilty to importing 18 children’s books about sheep and wolves. The publications were said to be filled with “distorted ideas” and to have intended to incite hatred against the local and Chinese governments among young readers.

Chief Magistrate Victor So sentenced Kurt Leung at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on Friday, after the 38-year-old admitted to breaching the colonial-era Crimes Ordinance by importing “seditious publications.”

Leung was arrested in March and was said to have signed for a delivery containing illustrated books. The parcel included copies of three books that the District Court had ruled as carrying seditious intentions last September in a case against five speech therapists behind the publications.

Set in a village populated by sheep, the series of three books was said to have alluded to the 2019 anti-extradition bill unrest, the detention of 12 Hong Kong fugitives by the mainland Chinese authorities, and a strike staged by Hong Kong medics at the start of the Covid-19 outbreak. 

Chinese authorities were portrayed as wolves, while the Hong Kong chief executive was a wolf who “masqueraded as a sheep” and was instructed by the “Wolf-chairman.”

The titles instilled fear, hatred, discontent and disaffection against the Hong Kong and Chinese governments in the minds of children, and were in effect “brainwashing” young readers, District Judge Kwok Wai-kin said at the time.

According to the summary of facts read out in court on Friday, the parcel signed by Leung included copies of three other books based on the storyline of the sheep and wolves. They were released last year by an Instagram account “sheepvillage2.0,” which claimed to be operated by a group of Hong Kong educators now based abroad.

The sequels hinted at other events in the city, including the unofficial legislative primary election organised by the pro-democracy camp, the removal of monuments commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown and the shutdown of pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, prosecutors said.

The prosecution said all six books were seditious publications which portrayed the wolves as “evil” and the sheep as “oppressed.” The epilogue of the six titles compared Hong Kong to the sheep village, while mainland China was likened to the wolf village, which incited hatred against the Hong Kong and central authorities among the readers.

According to the prosecution, Leung told the police that he was informed by an ex-colleague Choi Wing-tat that a parcel addressed to him would arrive. Choi asked the defendant to help him sign for the delivery, and Leung claimed he did not know the content of the publications.

Upon preliminary inspection of Leung’s phones, however, it was discovered that the defendant had spoken with a person called “Pan Choi” on WhatsApp about sending the children’s books to Hong Kong. Prosecutors argued that Leung knew the books were of a seditious nature as early as January when he received a photo of the books to be sent by Choi.

The defendant was also said to have told Choi that he would report him to national security police and have him arrested. Despite being aware of the seditious nature of the books, the pair still arranged for them to be imported, prosecutors said.

Representing Leung, barrister Anson Wong said his client played a “passive role” as he simply signed for the delivery of the books, and there was no evidence to suggest the defendant had distributed them.

Although Leung was aware of the “seditious” intent of the books, he did not personally share that intention, Wong told the court. Leung also penned a mitigation letter telling the court that he sincerely apologised for his “stupid behaviour.”

When handing down the sentence, So said the books targeted young children, which added to Leung’s criminality. There were also “cross-border factors” in the case, So said, as by importing the books, Leung was encouraging people overseas to continue to produce them.

“If those seditious ideas successfully take root and permeate vulnerable young minds, the impact could be inter-generational,” the chief magistrate said in Cantonese.

Taking into the account that Leung was not an “instigator” in the case and did not request the import of the books, So adopted six months as the starting point of sentence. He granted a one-third reduction because of Leung’s guilty plea. Leung, who has been detained for a month pending trial, was eventually sent to prison for four months.

Sedition is not covered by the Beijing-imposed national security law, which targets secession, subversion, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts and mandates up to life imprisonment. Those convicted under the sedition law – last amended in the 1970s when Hong Kong was still a British colony – face a maximum penalty of two years in prison.

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Three Hong Kong men who allegedly squirted police officers and reporters from local outlet TVB with water guns during a traditional Thai water festival have been charged with common assault and attacking a police officer.

Cheng Wai-shing, 26, Yip Ka-kin, 26, and Yuen Chi-kin, 31 appeared at Kowloon City Magistrates’ Court on Friday.

All three of them face three charges of assaulting a police officer and two charges of common assault. Tsang and Yuen face an additional charge of common assault, according to a charge sheet from the Judiciary.

The charges relate to an incident in April this year, when Thai new year – or Songkran – celebrations took place in Kowloon City. The district is known as “little Thailand” due to its Thai community.

The celebration typically sees revellers splash and squirt water on each other as a way of washing away sins and bad luck. The April event was the first since Covid-19 broke out in 2020.

Two of the men, Cheng and Yip, were arrested days after.

Video of the incident was posted on a YouTube channel called “Bravedogdog,” which is reportedly run by Cheng. One clip showed a group of men blasting water guns at two police officers who were on standing on a pedestrian path. Others then joined in as the officers walked away to escape the water.

In another clip, a group of men and some kids are seen firing water guns at two reporters wearing yellow raincoats with a TVB logo and the word “press” on them.

One of Hong Kong’s largest broadcasters, TVB is perceived by pro-democracy supporters to have a pro-government stance.

Phrases such as “Vs HK Po[lice]” and “Diu7Tvb [fuck TVB]” were also displayed in the video.

‘Ulterior motives’

During an April press conference announcing the arrests, police said they had “intended and had attempted to breach public peace” and their acts had lasted for three minutes in total. The group then posted a video of the incident online with “seditious wordings.”

“These celebration events are not an opportunity for those with ulterior motives to vent their frustrations and disrupt order,” he said.

Hours before the police announced the arrests, state-backed newspaper Ta Kung Pao published an op-ed by pro-Beijing columnist Chris Wat mentioning the YouTube channel.

The author said the men in the video had “maliciously targeted” police and TVB reporters, adding that they “pretended to splash water but were actually stirring up trouble.”

Magistrate Don So adjourned the case to December 1 and granted them bail on a cash bond of HK$20,000 each. The three must abide by conditions including not travelling out of Hong Kong Kong, living at their stated residential address and reporting to the police station every day.

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Hong Kong’s privacy watchdog has warned the public against WhatsApp account hijacking after receiving several reports of data breaches within the past month.

The incidents, involving five social welfare services groups and schools, resulted in the exposure of 900 people’s personal data, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data (PCPD) said in a statement on Thursday. Among the details disclosed were the names and mobile numbers of service users, as well as those of students, students’ parents, and staff.

Ada Chung, privacy commissioner for personal data, said on RTHK on Friday that scammers were randomly selecting WhatsApp accounts to hijack, adding that the public should be more cautious when receiving messages from strangers and take measures to secure the privacy of their online accounts.

According to the PCPD, swindlers will often pose as a WhatsApp user’s friend or relative and ask them to forward the registration codes of their WhatsApp accounts.

They also use use fake WhatsApp websites to obtain mobile phone numbers and WhatsApp registration codes.

A new scamming technique called “SEO poisoning” has also emerged, police said on their Cyber Defender social media page. By improving search engine optimisation (SEO) or paying for advertising, scammers are able to get fake WhatsApp websites to the top of search results. If people scan the QR codes from these websites, their data will be breached.

The police warned the public to be aware of sponsored posts that appear at the top of search results, and to always call the person involved to confirm their identity if they receive messages from friends or relatives asking to borrow money.

Following incidents of WhatsApp account hijacking, PCPD suggested enabling two-factor authentication, regularly checking linked devices in WhatsApp settings, and logging out of any devices that are no longer in use.

Fraud-related crime surged

Hong Kong has seen 58,453 crime cases in the first eight months of this year, a 34.6 per cent increase compared with the same period last year.

The security chief Chris Tang said in late September that the rise was attributed to a 52.2 per cent year-on-year spike in fraud-related crime, including e-commerce and phone scams.

Phone fraud rose by 73.6 per cent compared with the same period last year, averaging 272 cases per month, Tang said.

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Ten people who took part in a protest in Hong Kong’s Central district in 2019 have been jailed for up to four years for rioting.

The ten defendants, some of whom were teenagers at the time of the offence, appeared before District Court Judge Clement Lee on Thursday morning.

White-collar protests

The defendants were convicted of participating in a riot in the vicinity of Pedder Street, Des Voeux Road Central, and Connaught Road Central on November 12, 2019. According to the statement of facts, they disrupted public order in the city’s financial district.

The defendants damaged buses, threw petrol bombs and bricks at police officers, and vandalised two restaurants perceived to be opposed to the 2019 protests, Lee said in Cantonese. They also shouted seditious slogans including “good kids don’t become cops; all cops are bastards” and “Hongkongers, take revenge,” Lee added.

The demonstration was one of the “Lunch With You” protests attended by thousands of white-collar desk workers in the city’s central business district at the height of the 2019 anti-extradition bill unrest.

Protests erupted in June 2019 over a since-axed extradition bill. They escalated into sometimes violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s encroachment. Demonstrators demanded an independent probe into police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.”

Three tiers of involvement

Six of the defendants on Thursday — Yip Ka-long, 25, Au Wing-fung, 26, Fu Chi-lam, 29, Cheng Hok-ming, 26, Pun Yuen-ying, 27, and Bosco Lai, 21 – had previously pleaded guilty to rioting and consequently had their sentences reduced by a quarter.

Fu and Pun were sentenced to three years in prison, down from a starting point of four years, after Lee ruled that they were “moderately” involved in the riot by disrupting traffic. That was the middle tier in a three-tier system indicating the defendants’ perceived level of involvement that Lee employed in his sentencing.

Yip, Cheng, and Lai were sentenced to 31 months and two weeks, and Au was given 40 months and two weeks.

Lee said Au’s criminal liability was the highest of all 10 defendants, as he had gestured to others to chase a police convoy, after which a protester threw a brick at a police vehicle. By comparison, other defendants mostly stood guard to raise morale, he added.

One other defendant, 21-year-old Yeung Lai-wa, pleaded guilty on the fifth day of the trial in August. Yeung, who was 17 at the time of the protest, was sentenced to 33 months and two weeks in prison after her sentence was cut by a fifth for her guilty plea.

The remaining three defendants, Yeung Yiu, Lo Cheung-chun, and Ng Nga-chi were found guilty on Tuesday. Yeung was sentenced to four years in prison, while Lo got three years and six months. Ng got three years and three months as she was only at the protest for about half an hour, according to Lee’s ruling.

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More than 20 people have been jailed for up to 50 months over rioting near the Hong Kong government headquarters during the anti-extradition bill unrest more than four years ago.

District Judge Ernest Lin on Thursday handed out prison terms to 23 people over their participation in what the court ruled a riot in Admiralty on September 29, 2019, when the city saw widespread demonstrations triggered by a since-axed extradition bill.

More than 1,000 people were said to have been involved in the riot that day, which lasted for more than two hours in an area of Hong Kong filled with five-star hotels and government buildings.

Some protesters set up roadblocks and hurled petrol bombs that landed on water barricades outside the Central Government Offices. Others dug up bricks from the pavement and used a large rubber band to shoot hard objects at the government headquarters.

The “selfish and arrogant” acts of the protesters caused inconvenience and discomfort to other people in the area, the judge said in Cantonese.

Although there was no evidence to show there was an obvious organiser behind the demonstrations on the day, the unrest in 2019 “had a certain pattern,” the judge said. People gathered people under the guise of a peaceful protest which often descended into violence, he said.

“It was a planned anti-government movement,” Lin said, adding if the demonstrators’ aim was to protest alleged police misconduct, they should have targeted the police headquarters and should not have damaged government buildings.

While individual defendants joined the protest at different times, their attire and gear suggested their acts were not spontaneous, the judge said. Their participation also increased the destructiveness and momentum of the demonstration, he added.

“Although there was no data showing the financial cost of the incident… the biggest loss was not the public funding wasted [on restoring vandalised facilities], but rather the social harmony and mutual trust in society and the cosmopolitan image of Hong Kong,” Lin said.

Among the defendants, most of whom were students, 21 pleaded guilty to the rioting charge. Lau Chun-him faced an additional charge of assaulting police, while Keung Kai-wang was also accused of possessing an offensive weapon in public. Only Tang Ka-lok and Fan Yiu-kam were found guilty after trial in August.

Lin took 51 months in prison as the starting sentence for most defendants and applied different sentencing discounts. Ma Wing-sze received the shortest jail term of 28 months, while Tang and Fan received heavier sentences of 46 months and 50 months behind bars, respectively.

“Violence is never a solution to problems,” Lin told the defendants during the hearing.

Thursday’s sentencing took place in a new mega courtroom at the Wan Chai courthouse and saw the large group of defendants seated on three long benches inside the dock. The public gallery was filled with their family and friends, some of whom wept during the sentencing.

Only those seated on the left-hand side of the public gallery could see the dock, as two large pillars blocked others’ sightline. Many people rushed to the back of the counsel’s bench to get a glimpse of the defendants and to bid them farewell after the hearing ended. Some made a heart hand gesture, while others gave a thumbs-up.

Protests erupted in June 2019 over a since-axed extradition bill. They escalated into sometimes violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s encroachment. Demonstrators demanded an independent probe into police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.” 

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Hong Kong police have introduced a self-service kiosk at a major MTR interchange station to help people report lost items, saying it was part of a bigger plan to drive “digital policing” in the city.

The force held a ceremony for the launch of the first police self-service kiosk in a public space at Admiralty station on Thursday. The kiosk, which resembles a touch-screen ATM machine, aimed to help people report lost property and other non-emergency cases to the police.

Raymond Siu, the Commissioner of Police, said during the ceremony that “digital policing” had been the force’s aim since 2019, and the force had already set up kiosks in several police stations since 2021.

“This is a milestone in the development of digital policing services,” Siu said in Cantonese.

The self-service kiosk was also proposed in the “Smart Government” initiative mentioned in last year’s Policy Address, Siu added.

The digital policing device is one of the 13 police self-service kiosks currently in operation, Siu said, adding that the devices have processed over 15,000 lost property reports in the past three months.

Tony Lee, Operations and Innovation Director of the city’s sole railway provider the MTR Corporation (MTRC), said that the company would work with the police on a system that allowed lost property reports to be shared.

Speaking to reporters after the ceremony, police Director of Operations Chan Tung said the data transfer would be encrypted in accordance with cybersecurity standards.

Other than reporting lost property, residents and tourists could also make use of 14 police services through the kiosk, including reporting suspected crimes and traffic incidents, Chan said.

Admiralty station is the largest intersection in the MTR network connecting four MTR lines: the East Rail line, the Tsuen Wan line, the Island line, and the South Island line.

The police will consider placing self-service kiosks in other major interchange MTR stations such as Tai Wai station and East Tsim Sha Tsui Station, as well as at border control points and in large shopping malls, the police added in a press release.

Hong Kong has seen a sharp rise in crime recently, recording 58,453 crime cases in the first eight months of this year, a 34.6 per cent increase compared with the same period last year. In particular, fraud-related crime has increased by 52.2 per cent year-on-year, security chief Chris Tang said last week.

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Hong Kong’s universities will review extracurricular orientation activities and implement measures aimed at enhancing “moral education,” after two men were arrested over alleged sexual harassment at induction camps for two separate institutions.

In a Legislative Council paper published on Tuesday, the Education Bureau (EDB) said it had collected information from the city’s eight public universities on their existing policies relating to the student-led orientation activities and their plans to enhance the management of such events.

“As individual incidents of the orientation activities of the current academic year have given rise to wide concern in society, many universities have indicated that they will review the management of the orientation activities and put forward improvement measures,” the EDB wrote.

Two men were arrested in late August and early September over separate allegations of sexual assault at orientation camps for students at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and the Education University of Hong Kong (EduHK).

According to the legislative document, City University of Hong Kong will require students to complete “online tutorials on preventing sexual harassment” every year. The university will also seek feedback from students that joined orientation activities.

The EduHK and Hong Kong Polytechnic University said they had set up, or planned to introduce, committees to enhance monitoring of orientation camps. In particular, EduHK said it would introduce mandatory training on “safety, diversity and equal opportunity, sexual harassment, and moral behaviours” for student organisers and participants ahead of orientation camps.

HKU said only that it “regularly reviews” policies relating to student-led activities.

“Regarding moral education, HKU will remain sensitive to the needs and expectations of the changing societal landscape and [be] swift in making necessary and appropriate updates to our policies and curricula that are most beneficial to our students,” the paper read.

Lawmakers will discuss the matter at a Panel of Education meeting on Friday.

Orientation camp arrests

Orientation camps, typically referred to as “o camps” and organised by student clubs, are widely attended by first-year university students ahead of the start of term. Many are overnight camps where students sleep in campus dormitories. The camps are led by students rather than university staff.

Last month, police launched an investigation after allegations of sexual harassment at a three-day camp for HKU’s nursing society surfaced. An 20-year-old student from the university was arrested on suspicion of indecent assault.

Less than a week later, police arrested a 28-year-old man who attended six orientation camps for EduHK students in July and August. At least four women came forward to accuse him of sexual assault, police said.

He was suspected of rape, indecent assault and voyeurism. Police said he had previously been arrested over a suspected sexual harassment incident that was not related to orientation camps.

The 20-year-old was charged with two counts of indecent assault, and was granted bail on conditions that he does not leave Hong Kong and report to the police station twice a week.

The 28-year-old was charged with one count of voyeurism and two counts of indecent assault. He was denied bail and was placed on remand.

Often seen as a rite of passage for university students, orientation camps have come under criticism before, with accusations that they involve older students humiliating and bullying younger students.

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A 17-year-old has been arrested over attacking two security guards outside the Hong Kong government headquarters, police have confirmed.

Police received a report about the incident at 10.21 am on Wednesday. Local media reported that a person with a knife allegedly attacked two security guards near the footbridge above Harcourt Road, outside the East Wing entrance of the Central Government Offices.

The suspect, who police said was 17, reportedly slashed one guard on the wrist, while the other was left with a twisted ankle.

According to a statement, a 57-year-old male security guard sustained an injury to his hand, and a 60-year-old male security guard suffered a leg injury. The teen was reportedly subdued by other security guards and passers-by, and both guards were sent to Queen Mary Hospital for treatment.

Officers then arrived on the scene and cordoned off the area. A paring knife, a black backpack, and a vacuum flask lay on the ground where the attack took place, local media reported.

The teen was arrested on suspicion of wounding, and is being detained for enquiries. The District Crime Squad of Central District is conducting an active investigation into the attack and the suspect’s motive.

After the incident, the government Administration Wing instructed security personnel at the government headquarters to “remain vigilant,” a government spokesperson said in a separate statement issued on Wednesday.

“The police have also increased patrols in the vicinity of the government headquarters to ensure the safety of government officials, visitors, and citizens,” the statement read.

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By Beiyi Seow in Washington, United States

The United States announced sanctions Tuesday on a China-based network for producing and distributing chemicals used to make drugs including those fueling a deadly national fentanyl crisis.

President Joe Biden’s administration has made the fight against fentanyl a priority, with the synthetic opioid blamed for tens of thousands of deaths in recent years.

The sanctions targets include 25 individuals and entities based in China, alongside three other parties in Canada, the Treasury Department said in a statement.

In a separate notice, the Justice Department announced eight indictments charging China-based chemical manufacturing firms and staff with crimes related to drug production and distribution.

“We know that this global fentanyl supply chain, which ends with the deaths of Americans, often starts with chemical companies in China,” Attorney General Merrick Garland told a press briefing.

He said it was “critical” that Beijing stops the “unchecked flow” of precursor chemicals coming from the country, adding that US officials will also raise the manufacturing and trafficking of fentanyl with their Mexican counterparts.

Tuesday’s actions are aimed at exposing and disrupting a network “responsible for manufacturing and distributing illicit drugs,” said Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo.

The China-based network is “responsible for the manufacturing and distribution of ton quantities of fentanyl, methamphetamine, and MDMA precursors,” according to the Treasury.

The parties designated are also allegedly involved in trafficking xylazine — a veterinary sedative known as “tranq” — and nitazenes, which are often mixed with fentanyl or other drugs, posing a higher risk of a fatal overdose.

Via Mexico cartels

US authorities have noted that fentanyl is often coming from Mexican drug cartels that use precursor chemicals from China.

The Biden administration has imposed sanctions on cartels, although some politicians call for tougher actions.

Among the individuals designated on Tuesday are Wang Shucheng and Du Changgen — members of a Chinese “syndicate” — as well as their affiliates.

Wang was said to have directed others to establish companies used as cover to move pharmaceutical goods globally, while Du maintains the most influence over the organization, Treasury said.

The network is the “source of supply” for many US-based narcotics traffickers, dark web vendors, virtual currency money launderers and Mexico-based criminal organizations, Treasury added.

“Du Changgen and persons operating under him have been responsible for approximately 900 kilograms of seized fentanyl and methamphetamine precursors shipped to the United States and Mexico,” the department said.

Companies Du owns have also been designated.

Hanhong Pharmaceutical Technology Co, found to be linked to several members of the network, was targeted — alongside three representatives who were involved in its sale of fentanyl precursors and protonitazene.

Among others impacted were punch and die manufacturer Jinhu Minsheng Pharmaceutical Machinery and its part-owner, as well as other illicit drug distributors.

The United States has also blocked over a dozen virtual currency wallets.

The sanctions effectively stop those named from using the US financial system, and US citizens are barred from transacting with them.

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Hong Kong social worker Jackie Chen faces a retrial for a riot charge in 2019 – which she was acquitted of in 2020 – after her attempt to challenge a court’s decision for her to be retried was rejected.

Chen’s challenge came after the government won an appeal against her acquittal and a Hong Kong court ruled that she should be retried.

The Court of Appeal on Tuesday refused to permit Chen to take her case to the Court of Final Appeal. A three-judge panel ruled that her challenge did not involve any point of law that needed to be dealt with by the city’s top court, let alone any point of law of “great and general importance.”

Chen is currently facing a retrial alongside Lai Pui-ki, Chung Ka-nang and Jason Gung, all four of whom were cleared of rioting on August 31, 2019, in Wan Chai. Following the Department of Justice (DoJ) appeal against their acquittals – and those of nine others who have already left Hong Kong – the Court of Appeal ruled in mid-July that then-district judge Sham Siu-man was “plainly wrong” when he found them not guilty.

In her application for a certificate, Chen argued her case should be heard by the highest court because it would shed light on important points of law. Among them, whether the Court of Appeal should rule on issues that were not raised in the DoJ’s appeal against her acquittal, and whether the appeal court should allow the DoJ to raise an argument that was not mentioned during the original trial.

Her case would also touch on whether the appeal court can or should consider “external evidence” that were not included in the DoJ’s case.

On Tuesday, Chief Judge of the High Court Jeremy Poon and justices of appeal Derek Pang and Anthea Pang said the DoJ’s appeal and the subsequent retrial decision did not trigger the questions Chen raised.

The Court of Appeal’s order for retrial was based on evidence before the trial judge, as well as whether Sham had and should have considered certain evidence and whether he erred in his judgement.

“All were factual judgements, they did not concern the questions [Chen] raised. Regardless, [Chen’s] arguments regarding these issues were not valid,” a Chinese-language written judgement read.

The three judges also rejected Chen’s complaint over video footage reviewed by the appeal court. She complained that the DVD or USB drive containing the clips or relevant copies were not included in the DoJ’s appeal against her acquittal, violating requirements set out in a legal precedent.

The complaint “did not hold any ground,” the judges ruled on Tuesday, saying the video evidence had been agreed by the prosecution and defence at the original trial.

“Chen did not raise any objection before this court viewed the relevant clips. The current complaint seems to be unfounded,” the judgement read.

During the original trial in September 2020, judge Sham ruled there was a lack of evidence to show that the social worker’s conduct and speech amounted to an unlawful assembly, let alone rioting.

Chen was a member of the Battlefield Social Worker group and was frequently seen on the front line of protests in 2019 when she volunteered to monitor police behaviour. She sought to liaise between protesters and the force and provide emotional support at demonstrations, often speaking to police officers through a loudspeaker and telling them not to deploy tear gas against reporters and residents without protective gear.

The case was adjourned last month to January 23 next year after Chen’s lawyer requested the court to put the current proceedings on hold pending her challenge. There is no fixed date for the retrial.

Protests erupted in June 2019 over a since-axed extradition bill. They escalated into sometimes violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s encroachment. Demonstrators demanded an independent probe into police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.” 

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Hong Kong police have arrested a man who held up white flowers in a busy commercial district as the city marked China’s National Day.

Police said officers stopped and searched the 39-year-old man in Causeway Bay on Sunday, and that he refused to cooperate. He was arrested for disorder in a public place and obstructing police in the execution of their duties.

Videos on social media showed the man, dressed in a black t-shirt with characters reading “Hong Kong add oil” on it – a phrase of encouragement that roughly translates to “come on” – outside Sogo department store. He was also holding up white flowers. In Chinese culture, white flowers represent death and are often used in funeral arrangements.

When asked by plainclothes police officers to display his Hong Kong identity card, the man did not respond and began swearing, according to the video clips. After multiple warnings, three officers then pinned the man down and tied his hands behind his back as he struggled.

The incident attracted a small crowd of passers-by. One yelled “don’t press [his] neck,” while another said “offering flowers is not a crime.”

Local media outlets identified the man as Yung Wai-yip, who is known as “Captain America” for carrying a shield associated with the superhero at protests.

In 2019, he was convicted of rioting and attacking a police officer after being arrested in 2016 over unrest in Mong Kok that February, when violent scenes were triggered by the authorities’ attempts to clear street hawkers over Lunar New Year. In mitigation, the defence said Yung had autism and was a good-natured person, and urged the judge to consider a non-custodial sentence. Yung was eventually jailed for three years.

Sensitive dates

The arrest came as the city celebrated its first National Day since Covid-19 restrictions were lifted. In a reception attended by top officials, Chief Executive John Lee hailed China’s economic achievements in recent years, adding that the country’s development had given Hong Kong “endless opportunities.”

Hong Kong also saw its first fireworks display in five years, which authorities said attracted a record-breaking 430,000 people to gather along Victoria Harbour.

Traditionally a day of protest with mass marches and rallies from pro-democracy parties and civil society groups, National Day has not seen such scenes since Beijing imposed a national security law in June 2020. Many of those groups have also since disbanded, citing an atmosphere of fear under the security law.

According to AFP, police have also increased surveillance of activists – discouraging rallies, paying home visits ahead of sensitive dates, and summoning protest leaders for warning chats.

The city also marked the ninth anniversary of the Umbrella Movement last Thursday. Before the security law was enacted, the date typically drew crowds to Admiralty, where the 79-day largely peaceful civil disobedience movement kicked off.

This year’s anniversary, however, saw just a single activist Alexandra “Grandma” Wong outside the government headquarters. She held up a yellow umbrella and a sign reading “add oil.”

According to local media outlet The Collective, three students at Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU) stood vigil to mark the protest anniversary and distributed yellow ribbons. One of them had a sign on his t-shirt reading “freedom is not free” and “The school doesn’t allow [us] to pass out [ribbons]. Are you willing to take one?”

After 10 minutes, they were stopped by university staff and told they were taking part in an unauthorised activity, The Collective reported.

In an emailed response to HKFP, HKBU said the university “respects and upholds the freedom of speech and expression of opinions.”

“According to the regulations, if students or student organisations need to organise activities on campus, they have to apply to the University prior to the events in accordance with the procedures, and provide accurate information about the events,” the email read.

The university added it could request the termination of events and take disciplinary action if students were found to have violated regulations.

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Hong Kong police have released two men on bail after the pair were handed over by Macanese authorities for suspected involvement in the JPEX crypto scandal. The high-profile alleged fraud case has seen the number of reported victims rise to 2,467, while losses totalled more than HK$1.5 billion.

Police said on Sunday that two men aged 29 were released on bail without charge after they were detained and subsequently deported by Macau authorities on Saturday. The pair must report back to the police in late October.

They were arrested by Hong Kong police on Saturday at the Hong Kong–Macau Ferry Terminal, after Macau authorities detained them last Thursday and returned them to Hong Kong on Saturday.

As of Saturday, a total of 18 people had been arrested in Hong Kong over the alleged fraud case. Police said on Sunday that they received reports from a total of 2,467 individuals who said they were victims in the case involving HK$1.522 billion of losses.

No one has been formally charged in the case so far.

Police first detained four men and four women – aged between 22 and 52 – on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud around two weeks ago. Among those who were released on bail without charge were social media influencers Joseph Lam and Chan Yee.

The arrestees were said to have used false advertising and unlawful means to lure victims to open accounts and make investments on JPEX. The crypto platform then imposed restrictions on withdrawal limits and raised the handling fee for withdrawal significantly, leaving customers unable to withdraw their virtual assets, police alleged.

Conspiracy to defraud warrants up to 14 years of imprisonment in Hong Kong.

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There was something engagingly optimistic about the official estimate that the Red Hill Estate – where some homeowners’ illegal extensions were blamed for dangerous landslips during recent rough weather – had maybe another 70 houses with illegal extensions of one kind or another.

Come on people, let us be more realistic. It is more likely that almost every house in the estate has unapproved changes of one kind or another. This is only partly because rich people think the planning laws do not apply to them, because you could say the same about almost any village in the New Territories.

The underlying problem is that Hong Kong planning laws are an impossibly clumsy instrument when applied to low-rise housing.

Consider the village of Sheldon in the UK, where one of my esteemed colleagues had a converted farmhouse to which he would retreat between bursts of academic activity. Sheldon is in the English Peak District. It is not pretty in the conventional way that English villages are expected to be pretty; there are no half-timbered cottages, no thatched roofs.

Sheldon’s claim to fame is that it has not changed its appearance in the last 300 years or so. The houses are all low-rise and fairly basic. They are walled in the local stone and roofed in the local slate. The village is a popular backdrop for film and television companies making historical dramas.

This uniformity of appearance is no accident. Every building in the village is now “listed”, which means any change requires the approval of the local authority. Changes which would modify the appearance of a building are simply not allowed. You can have double glazing if it looks like single glazing. Central heating boilers must vent their flues through an existing chimney. Window frames must be wood, or look like wood. And so it goes on.

The concern with appearances is accepted by the villagers because it makes their homes more attractive and valuable. Front gardens are carefully tended to enhance the look of the place. The council follows its own rules. When it reluctantly conceded the need for a bus shelter the resulting construction – in the local stone and slates – was an attempt to build what a bus shelter would have looked like if they had buses in the 1600s.

Hong Kong is not, alas, nearly as good at preserving historic buildings as the UK is. But the rules applying to buildings are strikingly like those found in historic villages. Construction must follow the approved plan. The building, once completed, must remain as planned. Changes need permission and unauthorised ones must be reversed.

This makes perfect sense in a town where most modern residential buildings run to 30 floors or more. Failure to follow the structural parts of plans could lead to a major disaster. Flat owners cannot be given free rein to fiddle with their property. Every flat has to support the flat above and protect from the elements the flat below.

This intrusion on property rights makes less sense when the house is just a house.

Almost every house in the New Territories has a flat roof (except, if the Buildings Department is reading this, mine) on which the owner is expected to be able to walk. In theory this is for open air activities like sunbathing, barbecue or putting out the washing.

However, it’s a load-bearing floor, so most owners erect some sort of structure on it. Look at any rural village from the air and you see a fine variety of rooftop structures, most or all of them illegal.

This is encouraged by routine abuse of the Small House Policy, under which indigenous villagers, if male, can build a three-storey house.

If the villager plans to stay in Hong Kong he can have his “house” constructed as three flats. He can then inhabit the ground floor, let the other two, live on the proceeds and devote himself entirely to exploring the finer points of mah jong. A nice rooftop structure will turn the top flat into something close to a duplex, permitting a higher rent and attracting a better class of tenant.

Another odd feature of the Small House Policy is that the patch allocated to the house is exactly 700 square feet. The “villager” who has exercised his small house rights and now proposes to return to his home in Manchester can only sell you the house, and nothing but the house. Even the land under the balconies invariably supplied remains the property of the government, over which you are allowed to walk to reach your front door.

Of course in wet weather this turns into slushy mud, leading to the construction of a path. This expands by degrees into a patio on which you can park the shopping while you fumble for your keys, inflate the kids’ paddling pool, and other useful things. This looks a bit spartan, so you add flower borders and the odd potted plant. You then discover that these are being browsed by the local wild pigs and put up a fence. You are now in illegal occupation of government land.

These abuses are so widespread they are part of the culture. Architects will design in features which will facilitate surreptitious enlargements later. Builders do not ask if the job they are doing is approved by the government or anyone else.

Homeowners who are well connected to the government’s consultative machinery or the local criminal fraternity (or both; they overlap… allegedly) do not have to worry about complaints. If there is a complaint, the builder who removes the offending item will offer to restore it once the heat has died down.

At the same time, inspections can be very picky once official alertness has been switched on. One home-owner who obediently removed a glazed structure from his balcony was bemused to receive a visit from an inspector who did not wish to see whether the glass had been removed, which he could see from the street, but wanted to see whether the balustrade specified in the original plans had been restored.

The capricious approach in which nits are picked while elephants in the room are ignored tends to discredit the whole system. People like Leung Chun-ying – and me – who are scolded for having wine trellises in our yards wonder if the relevant department might have more important calls on its attention than garden furniture.

The system is a mess. Asked to suggest changes one is tempted to reply that, as the Irishman put it when asked the way to the Post Office, “If I were you, I would not start from here.” Still we must try. Would it be too daring to suggest that occupants of houses up to four storeys high should be allowed to make minor changes at their own risk?

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In the 39th month since the national security law was imposed on Hong Kong, trials involving people from all walks of life continued. Students who expressed sympathy for a man who took his life after stabbing a police officer were taken into custody pending sentence, while a young mainland Chinese student was jailed for sedition over planning to display a large banner relating to the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown.

As Hong Kong prepared to celebrate China’s National Day on October 1, more family members of overseas activists were taken for questioning, as over 100 groups involved in further education were urged to safeguard national security.

Former student leaders in custody

Four former student leaders at the University of Hong Kong were remanded in custody while they await sentencing next month. They pleaded guilty to inciting others to wound by expressing sympathy for Leung Kin-fai, who took his own life after wounding a police officer in July 2021.

District Judge Adriana Noelle Tse Ching revoked the bail of Kinson Cheung, Charles Kwok, Chris Todorovski and Anthony Yung on September 20, after she heard their mitigation pleas  in the case concerning statements made at a student union council meeting on July 7, 2021.

The student body passed a resolution to mourn Leung’s death in Causeway Bay on July 1, 2021, when the city marked 24 years since its return to Chinese rule.

Mainland Chinese student jailed for sedition

A mainland Chinese postgraduate student was jailed for six months after she pleaded guilty to an attempted seditious act.

Law student Zeng Yuxuan, 23, was jailed on September 12. She admitted planning to unfurl a nine-metre long vertical banner with an image of the Pillar of Shame statue on it from a footbridge in Causeway Bay on June 4, the 34th anniversary of Beijing’s crackdown on student-led demonstrations in China.

The statue, which stood on the University of Hong Kong campus for decades, was created by Danish sculptor Jens Galschiøt to commemorate those who died when the People’s Liberation Army dispersed pro-democracy protesters on June 4, 1989. In May, it was seized by police as evidence for an “inciting subversion” probe.

Reporter sentenced to jail

Ronson Chan, the head of Hong Kong’s largest journalist group, was found guilty of obstructing a police officer while reporting last September and was sentenced to five days in prison before being granted bail pending appeal.

The veteran journalist and chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association appeared at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court on September 25. He denied obstructing a police officer and an alternative charge of obstructing a public officer.

More family of overseas activists questioned

National security police took the father-in-law, mother-in-law, and brother-in-law of self-exiled democrat Ted Hui from their home in Yuen Long for questioning on September 12.

Hui is among the eight overseas activists wanted by Hong Kong national security police, with authorities offering a bounty of HK$1 million for each of the democrats.

After issuing arrest warrants in early July, the police have several times taken family members and friends of the overseas activists for questioning. By late August, at least 32 family members and associates had been questioned.

UK on the state of Hong Kong

Hong Kong authorities had expanded the use of the national security law “beyond genuine national security concerns,” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in a regular report on the state of the city on September 19. Cleverly aslo expressed disappointment over Beijing’s “ongoing state of non-compliance” with an agreement signed by China and Britain in 1984.

The Hong Kong government expressed its “strong” disapproval of the report, saying it “firmly rejected the groundless attacks, slanders and smears against the HKSAR” contained in the document.

Hong Kong consulate staff details

The Commissioner’s Office of China’s Foreign Ministry told all consulates in Hong Kong to pass on the job titles, residential addresses and identification details of all locally-employed staff in Hong Kong.

The letter, sent by the Hong Kong government at the request of the commissioner’s office and obtained by HKFP, gave each mission until October 18 to submit the details on an attached form. Additionally, missions were “requested to complete the form within 15 days of commencement of the engagement” of any new staff members.

China defended the request, saying it was “international common practice”.

“It’s understood that China’s consular bodies in foreign countries have also provided their local staff’s information in accordance with the local governments’ requests,” said a statement issued by the commissioner’s office.

100 groups asked to safeguard security

The Hong Kong government on September 19 requested over 100 schools and institutions to ensure that “all key personnel” involved in providing subsidised further education courses safeguard national security.

The Labour and Welfare Bureau revised the terms for all courses under the Continuing Education Fund, stating that with immediate effect all relevant groups must safeguard national security.

18 children’s books

A Hong Kong court on September 7 denied bail to a man charged with importing children’s books that were deemed seditious in a high-profile trial last year. He was said to have imported three copies each of The Guardians of Sheep Village, The Twelve Warriors of Sheep Village, The Street Cleaners of Sheep Village, Voting Day in Sheep Village, The Architects of Sheep Village and Sheep Village Daily.

Kurt Leung, a 38-year-old clerk, was said to have intended to bring hatred to the central and Hong Kong governments, promote “feelings of ill-will and enmity” in Hong Kong, and incite violence.

Trial of Jimmy Lai

The Hong Kong government condemned remarks by overseas groups as slander after they called for the release of pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai on his 1,000th day in custody.

Lai will have been detained for three years when his high-profile national security trial gets underway in December.

The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, a group based in Washington DC, published a letter addressed to US President Joe Biden calling on him to urge the Hong Kong government to “immediately and unconditionally release” Lai.

Trial of 47 democrats

Two defendants in Hong Kong’s landmark national security case involving 47 democrats are set to return to court in October. The court is expected to hear the case against the pair, who changed their pleas to guilty ahead of the trial.

Former district councillor Ng Kin-wai and businessman Mike Lam, who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit subversion, are scheduled to appear in court on October 5. The hearing is expected to take four days.

‘Seditious’ online content

A 46-year-old man was arrested by national security police in Hung Hom on September 18 and charged over suspected “seditious” online content the following day.

The office clerk was suspected of publishing 49 articles on discussion forum LIHKG calling for sanctions and violent action to be taken against officials, local media reported citing sources. National security police searched his home and seized electronic devices.

Arrest and prosecution tally

As of September 15, 279 people had been arrested for suspected acts and activities that endangered national security since the legislation was enacted, the Security Bureau told HKFP. Among them, 162 people and five companies had been charged under the national security law or the sedition law or with other crimes.

Among the 90 persons who have been convicted or are awaiting sentencing, 30 were charged under the national security law.

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