It's going to take more than kitschy decorations to
cheer up Hong Kong!
I viewed a film last night that I count myself privileged to have done so; this not least since it's inaccessible to those living in Hong Kong who don't have access to a virtual private network (VPN). But while Chan Tze-woon's hybrid documentary-drama exploring Hong Kong identity and the struggles of Hong Kong people through the years is very good work indeed, viewing Blue Island put me in a melancholy as well as reflective mood.
Which may be why I felt the blow meted out by the Hong Kong legal system earlier today even more than might otherwise be the case. This especially so when I already tried to mentally prepare myself for bad news after being reminded yesterday that the verdict in the national security law trial of Chow Hang-tung and fellow Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China standing committee members, Tang Ngok-kwan and Tsui Hon-kwong, was going to be handed out today.
A brief re-cap: Chow Hang-tung and co were accused of failing to comply with a notice from the national security police demanding
information, including personal information about standing committee
members and staffers. First brought to court in September 2021, the trial finally commenced on July 13th of last year. Chow Hang-tung has been in custody since September 2021.
AFP's Xinqi Su was Tweeting away this morning, producing an informative thread as magistrate Peter Law read out his verdict on the case. Among the revelations: "Throughout the trial , the prosecution was granted a "public interest immunity" [PII], which allowed them to redact more than 90% of the information in their evidence. Police said it was necessary as the investigation was still ongoing and targeting other orgs".
Also, get this: "Under the PII, information was withheld not only from the defence - who normally would need to know what evidence was being used against them to defend themselves - but also from Magistrate Peter Law who granted the PII himself"! And "Magistrate Peter Law, who did not get to read the documents himself and said so repeatedly throughout the trial, trusted the national security police officer behind the investigation, and confirmed multiple times that that officer was "in the best position" to decide what to tell"!!
To see what documents with 90% of their contents redacted look like, go here, here and here. On a related note: During the trial, Chow Hang-tung petitioned for the ties that the national security police purported to have found between the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China and six foreign entities to be revealed. She was unsuccessful and they stayed redacted.
The way things are in national security law era Hong Kong, it sadly came as little surprise that a guilty verdict was delivered against Chow, Tang and Tsui. Not that it matters to the authorities but I think it's worth noting here that: Chow Hang-tung is a human rights activist who -- together with Lee Cheuk-yan, Cardinal Joseph Zen, Jimmy Lai, Gwyneth Ho and Joshua Wong -- has been nominated this year for the Nobel Peace Prize.
For the record: Two other defendants, Simon Leung and Chan To-wai, pleaded guilty earlier and were sentenced to three months in prison. Sentencing for Chow Hang-tung, Tang Ngok-kwan and Tsui Hon-kwong is due to take place next Saturday (March 11th). The trio face a maximum six month prison sentence and a HK$100,000 fine each.
Compare and contrast the financial penalty vis a vis crime: The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, which is best known for being the organizers of the (previously) annual June 4th candlelight vigil at Victoria Park, "was accused by government prosecutor Ivan Cheung of being a "foreign agent" for an unnamed group, after allegedly receiving HK$20,000... from it". As for the prison sentences: A reminder that Chow has already been behind bars since September 2021 (i.e., some one and a half years). And that she's also a defendant in a second national security law case which has yet to go to trial.
Ahead of International Women's Day (which falls on March 8th and thus is just four days away), I think it's worth bringing up that Chow is by no means the only female accused of breaking China's national security law for Hong Kong. Nor the only one of them who's been denied bail and thus behind bars for some time now.
Another is former journalist and legislative councillor, Claudia Mo; one of the 47 pro-democracy politicians and activists accused of national security law crimes because they took part in or organised democratic primaries for the legislative council elections back in 2020. Earlier this week, a group of 54 British MPs and
public figures have called for her release she can visit her husband, journalist Philip Bowring, who has been hospitalised for some weeks now. Sadly, their calls appear to have fallen on deaf ears as far as the Hong Kong authorities are concerned, and Claudia Mo -- along with Chow Hang-tung and others -- have continued to be among the 19.7% who are female in Hong Kong's prison population. :(
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