The worrying treatment meted out to Hong Kong's political prisoners, including/notably juvenile inmates

One of Hong Kong's many correctional institutions

-- this one over at Cape Collinson

 

This was one of those days when I got to thinking of Hong Kong's (political) prisoners: because it's yet another hot summer day and a couple of years back, the suffering from of the heat of those behind bars in Hong Kong came to light during a record heatwave.  Of course, in winter, I also get to thinking of Hong Kong's political prisoners: because I doubt that prison cells are well heated then (just as they are not cool in the summer).  

 

And I also get to thinking of them when news comes out of this and that person (including those denied bail after being slapped with national security law charges) getting put in solitary confinement for doing such as giving another prisoner a hug.  The latest: Chow Hang-tung being penalized in this manner after she divulged that she planned to go on a 34 hour hunger strike to commemorate the 34th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre this past June 4th.

 

So I think it's fair to say that I find myself thinking often, and worrying, about them.  And I think and worry about Hong Kong's political prisoners and the treatment meted out to them even more after reading Shibani Mahtani's piece that came out in the Washington Post today about Hong Kong prisons working to compel loyalty to China among young activists.

It doesn't help that its first paragraph reads as follows: "The day begins with goose-stepping. In the prison yards of juvenile facilities across Hong Kong, young men and women practice the form of marching used by the Chinese military, kicking their legs up high as guards yell out commands."  And continues in the following manner: "In their mud-colored uniforms, the prisoners look almost indistinguishable from military recruits. But before they were detained, these inmates were foot soldiers in Hong Kong’s fight for greater democratic freedoms."

 

And here's the third paragraph of the piece: "Arrested for their involvement in the 2019 mass protests that saw almost a third of the population take to the streets, the detainees are now the latest subjects in China’s decades-long experiment in political control. The goal is to “deradicalize” them, echoing efforts honed by Beijing from the 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square protesters up to the forced detention and reeducation of Uyghur Muslims, though the Hong Kong version is not on the industrial scale of the repression in Xinjiang."

 

Some facts that will make all this even more chilling: As of April 30th, some 871 juvenile prisoners had participated in the program; with the youngest being just 14 years of age.  And "The ultimate objective, according to a former prison guard, is to create a feeling of hopelessness among prisoners, deterring the youngest former protesters from activism or even seeing a future in Hong Kong."

 

As Scottish Hong Konger Goose Lee was moved to Tweet after reading Shibani Mahtani's article: "This is stomach churning. The same dystopian ‘de-radicalisation’ techniques used in Xinjiang and Tibet are now being used in Hong Kong. My heart breaks for these kids."  And the fact that "All but one of the former prisoners said they did not regret their actions at the 2019 protests — only getting arrested for them" doesn't make one feel better about the treatment meted out to them.

 

Actually, reading details of the treatment they have got makes one blood boil, and question the humanity of the jailers and prison guards.  "Former prisoners said the withholding of letters from family and friends was a common punishment, leaving prisoners feeling isolated. Others were put in single cells for infractions like holding up five fingers during court appearances — a reference to “five demands, not one less,” one of the mantras of the protests." 

 

And if psychological punishments alone weren't bad enough: "One 20-year-old juvenile detainee said some officers hit the soles of their feet with a wooden stick if they could not accurately recite a list of 19 prison regulations. He said he was hit several times and received some 40 strikes in total. He also witnessed guards using their elbows to hit prisoners at an especially sensitive part of their back, a move the guards called “doing the chicken wing,” and kneeing inmates in their thighs.""

 

Serious kudos to Shibani Mahtani for producing this piece, which involved her speaking to "10 former juvenile prisoners and three prisoners formerly held in adult facilities, all arrested in connection with the 2019 protests, as well as two former employees at the CSD who described the program and how it has evolved over the past year."  (Understandably, all her interviewees spoke on condition of anonymity.)  It is a valuable piece of documentation; and works to help highlight what has been going on in a Hong Kong that is by no means (back to) normal.

 

One last quote from her piece, to make things clear(er): "For democracy to happen, you need people to confront their government, to be angry … that is sometimes inconvenient, but it is not radicalization,” said Louis Audet Gosselin, the scientific and strategic director for the Center for the Prevention of Radicalization Leading to Violence, a Montreal-based nonprofit. “Imprisoning and brainwashing is not deradicalization."

 

I'll leave the last word on this to lawyer-activist Kevin Yam though: "Xinjiang did not start immediately with full on crimes against humanity. It started with “deradicalisation” programmes for youths in the aftermath of the 2009 Urumqi riots. The rest was history. So please don’t take Hong Kong people’s warnings about what China might do lightly."