An unhappy start to a new week with talk of possible life sentences for a number of Hong Kongers and news of more departures of others

Claudia Mo is one of a number of Hong Kongers who has been 

silenced and behind bars for some 15 months now -- and 

is facing greater punishment down the road :(

After a disturbing week which culminated in Hong Kong showing its police state colors on Saturday, June 4th, I was hoping that today would be the start of a less troubled week in Hong Kong.  Alas, the 10th anniversary of the (suspicious) death of Li Wangyang has been one which has seen Hong Kong saddled with more bad news as the authorities continue waging lawfare on the territories' embattled pro-democrats.   

Among today's upsetting news was that involving 75-year-old activist Koo Sze-yiu, who was arrested in February and charged under the colonial-era sedition law over a protest that was planned against the Beijing Winter Olympics.  The trial of Mr Koo, who also happens to have Stage 4 cancer, got going today with Principal Magistrate Peter Law, one of Hong Kong's handpicked national security judges, presiding.  And to judge from Magistrate Law's past record, the elderly member of the League of Social Democrats is not going to be shown much mercy at all.

Peter Law also was busy today transferring the national security law case involving folks arrested in February 2021 for having organized or taken part in primary elections staged in July 2020 from the West Kowloon Magistrates' Court, where he is based, to the High Court.  What this means in legal terms is that the defendants now face higher sentences than would have been the case if their case were heard at the lower court.  Specifically, the defendants -- the vast majority of whom have been behind bars since February 28th, 2021 -- are now facing the possibility of life in prison.  

Quite apart from the sheer ludicrousness of people being given any jail time for organising and participating in primary elections aimed at gaining a controlling majority in the legislature (something which politicians in democratic countries try to do as a a matter of course, and considered legal, of course!), it is absolutely horrifying to consider that these individuals include some of the most admired, respected and loved politicians and activists in Hong Kong.  And then there's the matter of some of them who now look to be facing -- and given -- a life sentence are so young: with the likes of Joshua Wong, Tiffany Yuen, Lester Shum (one of the faces of the 2014 Occupy phase of the Umbrella Movement) and Ventus Lau (who organised a number of extradition bill protest marches and rallies) being just in their 20s.  

Small wonder then that so many people are seeing no future for themselves in Hong Kong, and also for Hong Kong itself.  And, as a matter of fact, yesterday saw reports of a third political cartoonist having left Hong Kong in less than seven weeks, citing the loss of artistic freedom.  The departure of the artist known as "Hong Kong Worker" follows in the wake of Ah-To and VA Wong Sir.  ""By the time you see this post, I’m already in UK," [he] wrote on Facebook. "You might think HK lost another voice, but if I stay, I will be silenced. This choice allows me to continue."  (Go here for a thread by Niao Collective about the illustrator, complete with some choice examples of his work.)

More than incidentally, I've found out in the past 48 hours or so that a number of members of the Twitterati who I thought were Hong Kong based -- and previously were so -- are now no longer in Hong Kong.  They include at least one academic, and also lawyer Kevin Yam, whom I've quoted quite a bit on this blog.  Two of his Tweets are so good and prescient that I'm going to share them once more below.  

Firstly, there's this from June 21st, 2020: "Don’t analyse the #HongKong National Security Law. There’s nothing to analyse. It’s just whatever they say it is. And if they cannot make it whatever they say it is when they want something, they will just change it in whatever way they like. End of story."

 

And also from 2020, but January 27th: "Everyone is rightly concerned about the spread of #coronarvirus.[sic]  But for years no one has cared about the spread around the world of the very authoritarianism and censorship which caused #WuhanOutbreak to be covered up and neglected until it is way too late."

 

And yes, I hope that he will continue to keep an eye (or two) on -- plus care for -- Hong Kong and share his thoughts regarding what's happening here.  Since he's one more person who does appear to really  f**king love Hong Kong, I think he will.