Hong Kong’s new legislation allowing certain criminal cases to be handled under national security procedures is expected to be used only rarely, with the city leader typically issuing such certification before trial, security and justice officials have said. A Legislative Council subcommittee completed its scrutiny of the Safeguarding National Security (Procedural Matters) Regulation during a…
A Hong Kong court has sentenced a construction worker to 10 months in prison for throwing dozens of sheets of paper bearing seditious messages from his flat in 2024 and last year. Raymond Wong Chan-fai, 55, told Chief Magistrate Victor So Wai-tak in mitigation on Tuesday that he had written offensive messages targeting police, judges…
Hong Kong’s leader has pledged to exercise prudence and seriousness when defining national security offences under newly proposed legislation, dismissing concerns about a centralisation of power and stressing that the process often involves “state players” and highly sensitive information. Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu also said on Tuesday that the subsidiary legislation, which introduces a…
A Hong Kong construction worker has been remanded in custody pending sentencing after pleading guilty to tossing 59 pieces of paper bearing seditious messages from his public rental flat in 2024 and last year. Raymond Wong Chan-fai, 55, was detained on Thursday morning by police’s National Security Department. He was escorted to West Kowloon Court…
Hong Kong police have brought more defendants to court from the city’s first arrests over alleged illegal drills under its domestic national security law, charging three men with conspiracy to subvert state power. Wong Kit-lun, 20, Tang Ngai-pok, 23, and Chan Hiu-chun, 23, appeared at West Kowloon Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, each facing one count…
The Hong Kong government has condemned attempts by anti-China forces and foreign media to sugarcoat the criminal acts of jailed former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, while defending the city’s press freedom after the release of a global index. Authorities issued a strongly-worded statement in the early hours of Friday, slamming the attempts to slander,…
Nearly 1,800 young Hongkongers convicted of protest and national security-related offences have taken part in a rehabilitation programme, authorities have said, including 99 per cent of those found guilty over the 2019 unrest, up from 63 per cent in 2021. Responding to a question from lawmaker Chan Hok-fung, the Security Bureau said that 1,768 inmates…
Former salesman Raymond Chong Wai-man, 61, pleaded guilty on Tuesday at West Kowloon Court to knowingly publishing 53 seditious Facebook posts that denigrated the central and local authorities between March 26, 2024 and November 29 last year. Chong, a father of two, drew official ire after commenting on the inferno in Tai Po that engulfed…
On March 23, Hong Kong’s government brought into force amended implementation rules for Article 43 of the national security law. This is not a new power grab or an expansion of authority. It is a technical, evidence-based refinement of the 2020 implementation rules that have governed national security enforcement since the law took effect. Rooted…
The founder of an independent bookstore in Hong Kong and three staff have been arrested for selling a biography of former media boss Jimmy Lai Chee‑ying and other publications deemed seditious by authorities, the South China Morning Post has learned. Pong Yat-ming, who founded Book Punch in 2020 in Sham Shui Po, was detained along…