More dark days in Hong Kong :(

Gloomy outlook in Hong Kong

 

The postponed (from March-April) 2022 Hong Kong International Film Festival (HKIFF) finally opened this past Monday. Unable to secure tickets to either of its opening films this year, my personal HKIFF-ing began yesterday with my viewing "restored classic": Francis Ford Coppola's The Outsiders (1983). Afterwards, I went for a nice Korean dinner at a member of the Yellow Economic Circle and was feeling pretty good and mellow.

 

But then I returned home, got online and Twitter, and was hit with upsetting news: specifically, a devastating development in the case of the 47 pro-democrats accused of national security law crimes for having organised and taken part in democratic primaries for the Legislative Council elections back in July 2020; 32 of whom have been denied bail and held behind bars since their arrest on February 28th, 2021.

 

"#BREAKING #EXCLUSIVE Hong Kong's justice minister has ordered a non-jury trial for the city's largest national security case to date in which 47 pro-democracy politicians face up to life in prison, citing "foreign elements" as a reason, according to documents seen by @AFP" trumpeted Agence France-Presse (AFP)'s Xinqi Su in a much Retweeted Tweet.   

 

Presumably, she also is the author of the AFP wire piece (which can be found at such as the Hong Kong Free Press' website) whose first line reads as follows: "Hong Kong’s justice minister has ordered a non-jury trial for the city’s largest national security case to date in which dozens of pro-democracy politicians face up to life in prison, according to documents seen by AFP."  

 

The following is from the same article: "Trial by jury has been used by Hong Kong’s common law legal system for 177 years but legislation imposed by China in 2020 to curb dissent allows cases to be heard by dedicated national security judges... Instead the trial will be heard by three judges who have been handpicked by the government to try national security cases."  

 

Put another way: It is looking like it's going to be nothing but a show trial and it's pretty much a foregone conclusion that the 47 will be found guilty as charged and given sentences whose maximum penalty is life imprisonment.  And what makes it all the more upsetting is that the 47 whose trial we're talking about here include the likes of 20something year olds like Joshua Wong and Tiffany Yuen, and 70something and 60something year olds, some of whom are not in the best of health like Albert Ho (who actually is currently in the process of applying for bail in order to receive medical treatment) , "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung and Lee Cheuk-yan.  

 

In short: not just one but several generations of Hong Kong pro-democrat activists and politicians stand to be imprisoned and silenced in one fell swoop!  And also horrifying was the news that came this morning (i.e., less than 24 hours later): that Jimmy Lai's national security law trial is set to be jury-less too! 

 

If truth be told, it's not exactly a surprise; what with the trial of Tong Ying-kit, the first ever -- and thus far, only -- national security case tried at the High Court having been jury-less as well.  At the time, it caused a stir.  Sadly, it looks to have set a precedent.  And so, I suspect, will his being found guilty by the panel of three judges of having committed a national security law offence.

 

Amidst all this, it should not go unmentioned that Hong Kong added one more individual to its population of over 1,000 political prisoners at the beginning of the week with the imprisonment of former teacher-turned anti-extradition bill protestor-turned publisher Raymond Yeung for unlawful assembly, including on June 12th, 2019 -- the day that the police shot him in the eye (which he subsequently has lost 95% of sight in).  

 

A reminder: "On that day police fired 240 rounds of tear gas and 19 rubber bullets, along with bean bags, pepper balls and so-called react rounds to disperse hundreds of thousands of protesters opposing a Bill to allow the extradition of criminal suspects to mainland China", and generally acted so barbarically that much of Hong Kong was left in shock and felt so outraged that they felt compelled to go out and protest on the streets against police brutality.   

 

"In an interview with AFP two weeks before his court date, Yeung said: "I hope my case could make some people think again why a person like me took part in the protests."  And here's the thing: One reason why what's happened to people like Raymond Yeung hits hard is because he's one of us and many of us see ourselves in him.  Consequently, I've seen a number of reactions to his story that are along the lines of "I could have been him".  And no, people don't think in terms of "There but for the grace of God go I" with regards to his story but more like "Solidarity!" and "We feel upset at what's happened to him but also what his fate tells us about Hong Kong as a whole". :(