Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s government will be able to proceed with making a protest song illegal under the city’s national security laws after winning a court challenge.

The High Court had last year rejected the government’s request for Glory to Hong Kong to be banned, saying it would have “chilling effects” on free speech.

But on Wednesday an appeal court overturned that ruling.

The move is likely to deepen concerns about freedoms being further eroded in the city.

Amnesty International said the government’s ban was “as ludicrous as it is dangerous”.

In the court’s ruling on Wednesday, it said that the song can still be used for “academic” or “news” activities.

But its melodies and lyrics can not be broadcast, performed, shared or reproduced in any setting where the user intends to “incite others to commit secession” or is used “with seditious intention” against the Hong Kong government. Those convicted of breaching the ban on the anthem could face up to life imprisonment.

It is also illegal for people to use the song to advocate for Hong Kong’s separation from China, and to present it as the anthem of the territory.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman on Wednesday said banning the song was a “necessary measure by (Hong Kong) to fulfil its responsibility of safeguarding national security”.

Amnesty’s China Director, Sarah Brooks said: “Banning ‘Glory to Hong Kong’ not only represents a senseless attack on Hong Kongers’ freedom of expression; it also violates international human rights law.

“Singing a protest song should never be a crime, nor is it a threat to ‘national security’.”

Hong Kong is part of China, but has had some autonomy since the end of British rule in 1997. Campaigners say that democratic freedoms have been gradually eroded since then.

The song Glory to Hong Kong – sung in the territory’s native dialect Cantonese – emerged during pro-democracy protests in 2019 against a controversial extradition law and later became the unofficial anthem of the movement.

Its lyrics include lines such as “Liberate Hong Kong” and “Revolution of our times. May people reign, proud and free, now and evermore. Glory be to thee Hong Kong”.

While the new ban will specifically codify when the song’s use is illegal, people in Hong Kong had already been punished under national security laws for playing it.

In 2022, a harmonica player was arrested for playing the song outside the British consulate in Hong Kong to mourn the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

The song has been banned in schools since 2020.

Officials had also petitioned internet giants like Google to remove the protest song from their search results and video platforms – something the sites refused to do.

The song has also at times been mistakenly played as the city’s anthem at official events like international sporting matches, something that has angered authorities.

On Thursday, the appeal court said pursuing a ban on the song’s use in political contexts fell within the remit of current national security laws.

It said that because it was hard to prosecute individual criminal acts, “a more effective way to safeguard national security was to ask” would be to ask internet platforms to “stop facilitating the acts being carried out on their platforms”.

A Hong Kong judge has found five speech therapists guilty of publishing seditious children’s books.

Their books – about sheep trying to hold back wolves from their village – were interpreted by authorities as having an overtly political message.

After a two-month trial a government-picked national security judge said their “seditious intention” was clear.

It comes amid a crackdown on civil liberties since 2020, when China imposed a new national security law.

Beijing has said the law is needed to bring stability to the city, but critics say it is designed to squash dissent.

The law makes it easier to prosecute protesters and reduces the city’s overall autonomy, while also increasing Beijing’s influence over political and legal decision-making in the city.

The group of five speech therapists, who were founding members of a union, produced cartoon e-books that some interpreted as trying to explain Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement to children.

In one of the three books a village of sheep fight back against a group of wolves who are trying to take over their settlement.

In another one, the enemy attackers are portrayed as dirty and diseased wolves.

“The seditious intention stems not merely from the words, but from the words with the proscribed effects intended to result in the mind of children,” wrote Judge Kwok Wai-kin in his judgement, AFP news agency reports.

He said the books’ young readers would be led to believe that Chinese authorities were coming to Hong Kong with the “wicked intentions” of ruining the lives of the city’s inhabitants.

Lai Man-ling, Melody Yeung, Sidney Ng, Samuel Chan and Fong Tsz-ho, who have already spent more than a year in jail awaiting the verdict, will be sentenced in the next few days.

The group, who are aged between 25 and 28 and had pleaded not guilty, face up to two years in prison.

“In today’s Hong Kong, you can go to jail for publishing children’s books with drawings of wolves and sheep. These ‘sedition’ convictions are an absurd example of the disintegration of human rights in the city,” said Gwen Lee from rights group Amnesty International.

The group was charged under a colonial-era sedition law which until recently had been rarely used by prosecutors.

Also on Wednesday, the head of Hong Kong’s journalist union was arrested just weeks before he was due to leave the city to take up a fellowship at Oxford University.

Ronson Chan, 41, was taken away by police while reporting on a meeting of public housing owners – his employer Channel C said.

Police confirmed they had arrested an individual after he refused to show his ID and acted “uncooperatively”.

A prominent Hong Kong protester has been jailed for 32 weeks for taking part in anti-government protests in 2019.

Alexandra Wong, 66, nicknamed Grandma Wong, denied the charges earlier this year, but changed her plea to guilty on Wednesday, the first day of her trial.

Ms Wong was regularly seen at the protests three years ago, usually waving a British union jack flag.

Prosecutors charged her in connection with two flash mobs on 11 August 2019.

They accused Ms Wong of shouting “offensive words” at an unlawful assembly, adding that her flag-waving and slogans encouraged an illegal gathering.

Hong Kong Principal Magistrate Ada Yim said the protests had caused “disruption to social order”.

Ms Wong disappeared half way through the 2019 protests, but re-emerged in October 2020, saying she had been detained in the border city of Shenzhen and forced to renounce her activism.

Her jailing comes a day after Hong Kong authorities sentenced a veteran activist and terminal cancer patient to nine months in jail for his attempt to protest against the Beijing Olympics.

Koo Sze-Yiu, 75, was arrested by police in February before he could carry out a solo demonstration criticising China.

He was charged with sedition, which he has denied. He has said he will appeal against the sentence.

Hong Kong was rocked by months of anti-government protests in 2019 and 2020. They were initially sparked by plans to allow extradition to mainland China, and then grew to include several issues, including anger over a controversial new security law brought in by China which cracks down on dissent.

Hong Kong’s legislature has passed a new law banning films deemed to violate China’s national security interests, the latest blow to freedom of expression in the territory.

Punishment for violating the law includes up to three years imprisonment and $130,000 (£95,000) in fines.

Critics say the legislation will stifle the vibrant local film industry.

Last year, China imposed a national security law on Hong Kong that effectively outlawed dissent.

The legislation, which came after huge pro-democracy protests in 2019, criminalises secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. Critics say it is aimed at crushing dissent but China says it is meant to maintain stability.

The film censorship law was approved in the opposition-free Legislative Council. It gives the chief secretary – the second-most powerful figure in the city’s administration – the power to revoke a film’s licence if it is found to “endorse, support, glorify, encourage and incite activities that might endanger national security”.

Experts and content producers have raised worries about the impact of the legislation, which does not cover films posted online, on creativity and freedom of expression.

Filmmaker Kiwi Chow, whose documentary Revolution of Our Times about the 2019 protests was featured at the Cannes Film Festival this year, told Reuters news agency the law would “worsen self-censorship and fuel fear among filmmakers”.

A speedy job

By Martin Yip, BBC News Chinese, Hong Kong

The bill was passed by a simple showing of hands, at the last meeting of the council’s much extended current term. And despite the lack of opposition in the legislature, lawmakers still debate.

Councillor Luk Chung-hung claimed it was political films that hindered creativity, not the proposed censorship law. Another councillor, Priscilla Leung, who is also a law professor, insisted the bill was in full compliance with human rights laws, and she hoped to stop such films from “brainwashing” young people.

Filmmakers will certainly be concerned. Dr Kenny Ng of the Hong Kong Baptist University’s Film Academy said the new law would see film distributors worrying if their already-approved films would be withdrawn, meaning more uncertainty in the industry.

As for the lawmakers, it is time to prepare for winning their job back as the election takes place in December – under completely new election laws.

The arts industry was already being targeted even before the new law. In June, a local theatre pulled the award-winning documentary Inside The Red Brick Wall, also about the 2019 protests, and its distributor lost government funding.

Book publishers have admitted to self-censoring and the largest pro-democracy paper, Apple Daily, closed earlier this year amid a national security investigation.

Meanwhile, many opposition figures are already in prison or in exile.

Anche i testi illustrati per bambini sono finiti nelle strette maglie della sicurezza nazionale di Hong Kong. La polizia ha arrestato cinque associati dell’Unione generale dei logopedisti, una sigla sindacale locale, a causa di “tre libri sediziosi” per bambini con pecore sospettate di incitare all’odio verso i governi dell’ex colonia e di Pechino, rappresentati dai lupi.

Il sovrintendente senior Steve Li del dipartimento della Sicurezza nazionale ha spiegato le ragioni alla base delle accuse con le pecore identificate con la gente di Hong Kong, mentre nelle storie compaiono a un certo punto i lupi famelici che, nell’interpretazione, sono ritenuti essere la Cina. “Un libro mostrava le pecore molto pulite e i lupi molto sporchi. Ha cercato di accusare la Cina di aver portato il virus”, ha detto Li in una surreale conferenza stampa. Le prefazioni in due dei tre testi collegano le storie alle proteste contro il governo del 2019 e, sul punto, Li ha specificato che le pubblicazioni mirano a glorificare la violenza e ad incitare i bambini a odiare il governo e la magistratura della città. Un’altra storia alluderebbe a uno sciopero tenuto dagli operatori sanitari all’inizio del 2020 per cercare di fare pressione sul governo sulla chiusura delle frontiere con la Cina a causa della pandemia del Covid-19. “Il libro mostrava che le pecore erano molto pulite e i lupi molto sporchi. Ha cercato di accusare la Cina di aver portato il virus – ha osservato -. I libri, per esempio, mostravano i lupi mentre gettavano spazzatura e sputavano dappertutto”.

Le persone arrestate sono due uomini e tre donne di età compresa tra i 25 e i 28 anni con l’accusa di aver cospirato per la pubblicazione di materiale sedizioso, tra cui il presidente il vicepresidente, il segretario e il tesoriere dell’Unione.

Li ha invitato i genitori e i distributori a liberarsi dei libri incriminati: “Tutte le pubblicazioni sono rivolte a bimbi di età compresa tra i 4 e i 7 anni, età cruciale per sviluppare la conoscenza morale ed etica. Insegnando loro che il bianco è nero e il nero è bianco, con quali valori cresceranno? Potrebbero finire per avere intenzioni criminali”, ha azzardato il sovrintendente, non escludendo altri arresti.

La Confederazione dei sindacati (CTU) pro-democrazia ha espresso forte preoccupazione per il caso, ritenuto il segnale di un’escalation volta a strangolare la libertà di espressione, nonché “una campana a morto per la libera creazione artistica. Oggi un libro per bambini è definito sedizioso. Domani qualsiasi metafora potrebbe essere letta come tale”, ha affermato la CTU in una nota. “Questo spiega anche perché molti creatori si autocensurano, ritirando le loro opere dagli scaffali. Il caso mostra ancora una volta come la legge sia stata usata dalle autorità per diffondere la paura”.

Intanto il tribunale di West Kowloon ha negato la libertà su cauzione a quattro ex alti dirigenti dell’Apple Daily, il tabloid pro-democrazia fondato da Jimmy Lai e costretto alla chiusura il 24 giugno, accusati di aver violato la legge sulla sicurezza nazionale. L’editore associato Chan Pui-man, il capo editoriale della sezione di notizie in inglese Fung Wai-kong, il caporedattore esecutivo Lam Man-chung e l’editorialista Yeung Ching-kei devono rispondere di cospirazione e collusione con le forze straniere per il fatto di aver chiesto sanzioni contro Hong Kong e la Cina.

Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy paper Apple Daily has announced its closure, in a blow to media freedom in the city.

The tabloid’s offices were raided last week over allegations that several reports had breached a controversial national security law.

Police detained the chief editor and five other executives, and company-linked assets were frozen.

The publication had become a leading critic of the Hong Kong and Chinese leadership.

The Apple Daily management said that “in view of staff members’ safety”, it had decided “to cease operation immediately after midnight” – making Thursday’s publication the final printed edition.

UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said the paper’s closure was a “chilling blow to freedom of expression in Hong Kong”.

The digital version of the 26-year old paper will no longer be updated after midnight.

A separate announcement by publisher Next Digital thanked the readers for their “loyal support” as well as its journalists, staff and advertisers.

The tabloid has long been a beacon of media freedom in the Chinese-speaking world, and is a widely read and supported by political dissents in Hong Kong.

Chinese officials have repeatedly said media freedoms in Hong Kong are respected, but are not absolute.

Ronny Tong, a member of Hong Kong’s government, accused the paper of orchestrating a political stunt in its decision to shut down.

“People around the world probably will accuse the Hong Kong government of forcing Apple Daily to close down. But the fact of the matter is, they don’t need to,” he told the BBC.

‘A knife over your head’

The closure comes after sustained pressure on the paper from the authorities.

Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai, who has long been a critic of the Chinese Communist Party, is already in jail on a string of charges.

Last Thursday, some 500 police officers raided the publication’s newsroom, saying its reports had breached the city’s new national security law, which makes undermining the government a criminal offence.

The arrests struck fear in employees at the paper and a number quit the publication soon after.

An editorial staff member at the paper described the feeling of unease as “having a knife over your head”. “If you don’t leave by yourself, you may be held criminally responsible,” she told BBC Chinese.

A current affairs reporter for Apple Daily said after last week’s raid: “I had mixed feelings. On one hand, I was angry at the ruthlessness of the regime. I was also sad that Hong Kong might not have Apple Daily but I also felt fear.”

Police had accused the newspaper of publishing more than 30 articles calling on countries to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and mainland China since 2019.

They also arrested the editor-in-chief and four other executives at their homes and froze HK$18m ($2.3m; £1.64m) of assets owned by three companies linked to Apple Daily – Apple Daily Limited, Apple Daily Printing Limited and AD internet Limited.

The paper then said it only had enough cash to continue normal operations for “several weeks”.

On Wednesday, a 55-year-old man, identified as an Apple Daily columnist, was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to collude with a foreign country or foreign forces, local media reports said.

What is the national security law?

China introduced the national security law in Hong Kong last year in response to massive pro-democracy protests that swept through the administrative region.

The law essentially reduced Hong Kong’s judicial autonomy and made it easier to punish demonstrators and activists. It criminalises secession, subversion and collusion with foreign forces with the maximum sentence life in prison.

Since the law was enacted in June, more than 100 people have been arrested under its provisions.

Hong Kong police arrested 53 people in raids on democracy activists on Wednesday in the biggest crackdown since China last year imposed a new security law which rights activists say is aimed at eliminating dissent.

About 1,000 police took part in the raids. The arrests were linked to last year’s unofficial vote to choose opposition candidates in city elections, which authorities said was part of a plan to overthrow the government.

The arrests come as authorities continue a crackdown on dissent under a new controversial security law imposed by Beijing. The law aims to tackle secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, with punishments of up to life in prison.

Hong Kong Secretary for Security John Lee said those arrested had planned to cause “serious damage” to society and that authorities would not tolerate subversive acts. Beijing’s top representative office in Hong Kong said in a statement it firmly supported the arrests.

Police did not name those arrested, but their identities were revealed by their social media accounts and their organisations. They included former lawmakers, activists and people involved in organising the 2020 primaries, among them James To, Lam Cheuk-ting, Benny Tai and Lester Shum.

Since its imposition, leading activists such as media tycoon Jimmy Lai have been arrested, some democratic lawmakers have been disqualified, activists have fled into exile and protest slogans and songs have been declared illegal.

Joshua Wong è stato condannato a 13 mesi e mezzo di carcere dopo essersi dichiarato colpevole delle accuse mossegli sul ruolo svolto nelle proteste per le riforme democratiche che nel 2019 misero a soqquadro Hong Kong. Ventiquattro anni, tra i più noti attivisti impegnati in prima linea, Wong è stato così riconosciuto responsabile di “incitamento, organizzazione e partecipazione alla manifestazione illegale” del 21 giugno del 2019 che portò a circondare il quartier generale della polizia di Wan Chai in risposta alla repressione da parte delle forze dell’ordine dei dimostranti scesi in piazza per protestare contro la legge sulle estradizioni in Cina. Con lui anche Agnes Chow, 23 anni, e Ivan Lam, 26 anni – due ex leader con Wong del gruppo politico Demosisto sciolto a fine giugno in vista dell’entrata in vigore della legge sulla sicurezza nazionale imposta da Pechino – sono stati condannati rispettivamente a 10 e 7 mesi di detenzione.

“Gli imputati hanno invitato i manifestanti ad assediare il quartier generale e hanno cantato slogan che minano le forze di polizia”, ha scandito il giudice della West Kowloon Magistrates Court, Wong Sze-lai, illustrando il dispositivo della sentenza. “La reclusione immediata è l’unica opzione appropriata”, ha poi aggiunto, sottolineando “la necessità di deterrenza e punizione”.  Le condanne, che hanno provocato proteste da parte dell’Occidente, sono maturate sullo sfondo di un giro di vite nell’ex colonia britannica imposto da Pechino dopo la legge sulla sicurezza nazionale. Le accuse contro Wong, Chow e Lam si riferivano a fatti accaduti prima dell’entrata in vigore della legge contestata, ma la formulazione vaga del testo e la sua ampia portata hanno eroso l’alto grado di autonomia concesso ai territori dopo la restituzione della città dalla Gran Bretagna alla Cina nel 1997.

Quattro deputati pro-democrazia del parlamentino locale sono stati cacciati da Pechino perché non patriottici, causando le dimissioni di solidarietà di tutti gli altri 15 colleghi pandemocratici. Provvedimenti sono stati presi anche contro gli insegnanti per aver discusso di argomenti delicati nelle scuole, mentre dalle librerie sono scomparsi testi considerati scomodi.

“I giorni a venire saranno duri ma resteremo lì, non molleremo”, ha commentato Wong mentre veniva portato via dall’aula. “Non è la fine della lotta”, è il messaggio che ha voluto poi veicolare tramite i suoi legali. Jonathan Man, uno degli avvocati, ha spiegato che gli attivisti speravano in pene più lievi perché non erano stati coinvolti nelle violenze. Questa volta però le sanzioni pecuniarie o l’affidamento ai servizi alla comunità non sono state applicati a conferma di un clima diverso con Pechino che, secondo gli osservatori, sembra intenzionata a stroncare con la forza il dissenso nell’ex colonia. Chow aveva già annunciato che avrebbe presentato appello alla sentenza, mentre Wong e Lam stavano valutando se seguirla.

Dominic Raab, ministro degli Esteri britannico, ha criticato la sentenza e ha invitato “le autorità di Hong Kong e Pechino a porre fine alla loro campagna per soffocare l’opposizione”. Toni di condanna anche da Berlino e da diversi parlamentari italiani.

Intanto, Jimmy Lai, il tycoon dei media e strenuo oppositore di Pechino, è stato arrestato dalla polizia con le accuse di frode, secondo il suo tabloid Apple Daily. Ad agosto, Lai fu arrestato per la presunta “collaborazione con forze straniere” e per l’organizzazione di proteste antigovernative. La legge sulla sicurezza nazionale, combinata alla pandemia del Covid-19 (alla base del rinvio delle elezioni politiche da settembre 2020 a settembre 2021), ha neutralizzato le proteste, malgrado la polizia abbia detto che bombe molotov sono state lanciate martedì contro un club sportivo e ricreativo per ufficiali a Kowloon.

Il giorno successivo alle tre condanne, in una Hong Kong sempre più sotto il tallone di Pechino, è finito in manette anche il magnate dei media Jimmy Lai: comparso in tribunale per le accuse di frode – ultimo dei procedimenti penali contro gli attivisti critici verso il governo locale e quello centrale cinese – è stato arrestato in aula. A Lai, 73 anni, fondatore e proprietario del tabloid Apple Daily, schierato a favore delle riforme democratiche, è stata negata la libertà su cauzione per un presunto “pericolo di fuga”. Il processo partirà ad aprile con un giudice nominato secondo la nuova e contestata legge sulla sicurezza nazionale imposta sulla città dalla Cina.

Le accuse di frode contro Lai sono relative all’affitto dell’edificio che ospita l’Apple Daily, parte di una strategia che ha visto le autorità di Hong Kong intensificare il giro di vite su figure chiave dell’opposizione dopo l’introduzione della legge sulla sicurezza nazionale, in vigore dal 30 giugno. Lai e due alti dirigenti della sua azienda Next Digital sono stati formalmente incriminati per aver nascosto e rappresentato in modo falso l’uso degli uffici al proprietario dell’immobile, una società pubblica del governo di Hong Kong. In altri termini, sull’utilizzo degli spazi sono state violate le clausole del contratto di locazione tra il 2016 e il 2020, con un subaffitto improprio di parte dei locali che avrebbe generato vantaggi illeciti ad Apple Daily. Ad agosto Lai fu arrestato dopo che circa 200 agenti di polizia perquisirono i suoi uffici, riuscendo poi a ottenere la libertà su cauzione. La legge sulla sicurezza nazionale punisce tutto ciò che la Cina considera sovversione, secessione, terrorismo o collusione con forze straniere fino all’ergastolo.

Lai si è recato spesso a Washington, dove ha incontrato funzionari di alto livello e il segretario di Stato Mike Pompeo per sollecitare il sostegno alla causa democratica di Hong Kong, spingendo Pechino a etichettarlo come “traditore”.  Il clima del tutto cambiato a Hong Kong, con l’ampia autonomia nei confronti di Pechino che sta evaporando moto velocemente, sta spingendo gli esponenti pro-democrazia a lasciare i territori per evitare pesanti ritorsioni. L’ultimo caso è quello di Ted Hui, ex deputato del Partito democratico su cui pendono 9 capi d’accusa, che ha annunciato la scelta dell’esilio con tutta la famiglia. “Non ci sono parole per descrivere il mio dolore ed è difficile trattenere le lacrime”, ha scritto sui social media Hui, ora in Danimarca e prossimo a spostarsi a Londra.

One of Hong Kong’s most prominent democracy activists, Joshua Wong, was jailed on Wednesday for more than 13 months for participating in an unauthorised anti-government rally last year.

Wong became the face of the 2014 student-led Umbrella Movement democracy protests. Last year’s pro-democracy protests, however, prompted Beijing to impose a controversial national security law in June. The law aims to tackle secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, with punishments of up to life in prison.

“Ahead of us is another challenging battleground. We’re now joining the battle in prison along with many brave protesters, less visible yet essential in the fight for democracy and freedom for Hong Kong”, said the 24-year-old Wong, who had pleaded guilty to organising and inciting an unlawful assembly.

In response to the court ruling, Britain’s foreign minister Dominic Raab urged Hong Kong and Beijing authorities to stop their campaigns to stifle the opposition. Britain administered Hong Kong until a 1997 handover to China. In July, it suspended its extradition treaty and blocked arms sales with the city. It also offered residency rights to three million Hong Kongers.

Rights group Amnesty International condemned the court ruling: “By targeting well-known activists from Hong Kong’s largely leaderless protest movement, authorities are sending a warning to anyone who dares openly criticize the government that they could be next”, it said.

Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau on Tuesday criticised China’s “coercive diplomacy,” repressive measures in Hong Kong and detention of Uyghur Muslims, saying they are counterproductive both for Beijing and for the rest of the world.

“We will remain absolutely committed to working with our allies to ensure that China’s approach of coercive diplomacy, its arbitrary detention of two Canadian citizens alongside other citizens of other countries around the world is not viewed as a successful tactic by them”, Trudeau said. He also stressed Canada’s “concern for the protection of human rights and places like Hong Kong” and “with the Uyghurs”.

The Chinese embassy in Ottawa did not have an immediate response to Trudeau’s criticism of its diplomacy. China has repeatedly said Canada must set Meng Wanzhou, a senior executive of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei, free before relations can improve.

Ties between the two countries deteriorated in 2018 after Canadian police arrested Meng on a US extradition warrant. She is charged with bank fraud related to violations of US sanctions against Iran. Soon after, China detained two Canadians and charged them with spying.

Tuesday marked the 50th anniversary of Canada’s diplomatic ties with China. Trudeau said that Canada would “continue to work with our fellow like-minded nations around the world, to impress upon China that its approach to internal affairs and global affairs is not on a particularly productive path for itself or for all of us”.