One of the 28 prisons and detention centers
like those on the Chi Ma Wan peninsula are brought back into use?
It really is feeling like a day just can't pass by in Hong Kong without news of the arrest, denial of bail or jailing of at least one individual on what often sound like trumped up charges. Even on a relatively news free day like this past Thursday, the police announced the re-arrest of five people, whose age ranged from 15 to 33 years (and listed occupations were secondary school student (1), university students (2), real estate agent (1) and salesman (1)), for rioting on October 7th last year.
One day later (yesterday) came the news of teenage activist Tony Chung having been guilty in court of
desecrating the national flag and unlawful assembly during a
confrontation between rival groups outside the Legislative Council complex in May of last
year. What he actually did to get him convicted of this crime: he "snatched a national flag from government supporters, detaching it from its pole" in the midst of a scuffle which broke out between pro-government and pro-democracy demonstrators. Yes, really. And for the record: note that this is a separate "offence" from that which saw him arrested -- though not (yet) charged -- under the national security law: first, in July; and then again in October (this time without bail).
That same day, news broke of Jimmy Lai also being charged under the national security law, for "colluding with foreign forces". Confirmation of this came after he was brought to court in chains this morning (and denied bail again); with the "evidence" brandished against him consisting of his activity on Twitter, his streamed live chats with political commentators based overseas and his founding of an English version of Apple Daily (a couple of whose articles I've linked to in this paragraph!). In other words: we're talking speech crimes rather than actual concrete acts of collusion; a development with "dire implications" for free speech in Hong Kong.
We already knew that free speech was under threat after such as the arrest of Tam Tak-chi for shouting political slogans. But in the case of Jimmy Lai, who just turned 73 this past Tuesday, it can also seem like a targeted witch hunt since he's been someone the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) have sought to punish for so long. As the last governor of Hong Kong, Chris Patten, outlined in a recent BBC interview: "Jimmy Lai is somebody who escaped
from Communism in China, swam when he was a young man, when he was a boy
to get to Hong Kong. He's been a tremendously successful businessman,
and [the CCP] closed down, first of all, his chain of shops in China, and now
they've attacked him personally because he's been running a newspaper
which speaks out in favour of freedom."
In the same interview, Lord Patten also was at pains to point out that the Chinese government has "broken their word to Hong Kong and internationally and they're destroying a great city". And in an interview with France 24, he made clear that "Hong Kong's been put into handcuffs by the Chinese regime" and, by its very actions, "You can't trust [it] further than you can spit."
With all this in mind, it's not surprising that yet another former Hong Kong legislative councillor has decided to go into exile. Late last night came news that Sixtus "Baggio" Leung has fled to the USA (rather than go to Britain, like Nathan Law and Ted Hui) as well as declared the severance of ties with his family and political party (Younginspiration).
To be sure, those who say that Hong Kong's judiciary still has not been (completely) co-opted by Beijing will point to Andy Chan Ho-tin, the convenor of the
now-disbanded Hong Kong National Party, having been acquitted today of
assaulting police and participating in an unlawful assembly in Sheung
Shui last year. But, honestly, now, would you blame many pro-democracy figures for no longer believing that justice is blind in Hong Kong and fearing that they stand to personally contribute to swelling Hong Kong's prison population before too long?
As things stand, hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Hong Kongers appear intent on voting with their feet by leaving Hong Kong, and sooner rather than those governments of countries that have signalled that they are willing to accept them have realized. So much for Carrie Lam's "assurance" that China's security law for Hong Kong would target an "extremely small minority of people" and protect "the overwhelming majority of Hong Kong residents" back in June. At the very least, it seems that the majority of people here don't believe her about this, and so much more!
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