HONG KONG, Sept 19 (Askume) – A Hong Kong judge jailed two men on Thursday in the city’s first sedition cases under a new national security law, one for wearing a shirt emblazoned with a protest slogan and the other for wearing a shirt emblazoned with a protest slogan. A man was jailed for writing a similar message on a bus seat.
Chief Magistrate Su Zehao originally sentenced Zhu Qibang, 27, to 14 months in prison under tough sentencing laws enacted by the city’s legislature in March.
“If the law does not intervene quickly and individuals are allowed to incite rebellion, it will eventually lead to social chaos again,” Su said in a written ruling.
Zhu pleaded guilty to sedition for wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the protest slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times”.
This slogan was raised on the streets during pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2019.
Zhu was arrested at a subway station on June 12 while wearing a yellow mask bearing the words “FDNOL,” an acronym for another popular slogan in 2019: “Five demands, not one less.”
The day marks the fifth anniversary of one of the first major actions in the protests.
Su said: “The defendant used the symbolic day to incite others to commemorate the riots and tried to revive the idea of riots, which posed a serious threat to social order and the circumstances were not trivial.”
The court heard that Chu told police the “Liberate Hong Kong” slogan called for Hong Kong to be returned to British rule and that she wore it to draw attention to the protests.
Magistrate So on Thursday sentenced another Hong Kong man, Chung Man-kit, 29, to 10 months’ jail in a separate security case.
“The content of the seditious speech in this case includes advocating the separation of the Hong Kong government from the legitimate control of the central government and promoting its views in a way that undermines social peace and public order,” Su said.
Su said the law must intervene or else society would risk “falling into chaos again.”
Chung on Thursday pleaded guilty to three counts of seditious conduct for writing slogans advocating Hong Kong independence and “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times” on the backs of bus seats in March and April.
Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020 to suppress months of protests in the financial hub. In March 2024, Hong Kong passed a second new national security law.
Under the new law, the maximum punishment for treason has been increased from two years to seven years in prison, and if it involves “collusion with foreign powers”, it can carry a prison term of up to 10 years.
Critics, including Western governments, say the vaguely defined provisions could be used to stifle dissent, but Hong Kong and Chinese authorities say they are needed to maintain stability.
Amnesty International’s China director Sarah Brooks reacted to Zhu’s sentencing in a statement: “This is a blatant attack on the right to freedom of expression.”
Amnesty International urged Hong Kong authorities to repeal the law.
