HONG KONG, Sept 16 (Askume) – A Hong Kong man pleaded guilty on Monday to inciting subversion by wearing a T-shirt with protest slogans printed on it, becoming the first person to be convicted under the city’s new national security law passed in March.
Zhu Kaipeng, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of “inciting intent to commit an act.”
Under the new national security law, the maximum sentence for such offences has been raised from two to seven years, and the penalty could be up to 10 years if “collusion with foreign forces” is found.
Mr Chu was arrested at an MTR station on June 12. He was wearing a T-shirt bearing the slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, the revolution of our times” and a yellow mask bearing the words “FDNOL” – an acronym for another slogan, “Five Demands”, which is an acronym for “Nobody Should Be Missing”.
Both slogans were used frequently during massive and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in 2019, with June 12 being a key starting day for months of unrest.
The court heard that Zhu told police he wore the T-shirt to draw attention to the protests.
Chief Magistrate Su Weiquan, appointed by city leader John Lee to hear national security cases, adjourned the case until Thursday for sentencing.
When Hong Kong returned to China from Britain in 1997, Beijing promised to uphold all its freedoms, including freedom of expression, under the principle of “one country, two systems”.
Following months of protests in the financial hub, Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020 that carries penalties of up to life imprisonment for acts of secession, subversion, terrorism or collusion with foreign powers.
In March 2024, Hong Kong passed a second new national security law – a local regulation based on the original provisions of Hong Kong’s mini-constitution “Basic Law”, also known as “Article 23”.
Critics, including the US government, have expressed concerns about the new national security law, saying that vaguely defined provisions relating to “sedition” could be used to suppress dissent.
Hong Kong and Chinese authorities say it is necessary to address “loopholes” in the national security system.
