A Hong Kong professor and two pro-democracy politicians were barred from Macau, escalating concerns over a possible curb on freedom of expression, a broadcaster said yesterday.
Johannes Chan (陳文敏), dean of the University of Hong Kong’s law faculty, told Cable TV he was turned away by immigration officers when he went to give a speech at the University of Macau on Friday.
“The officers took my identity card for a check. The computer showed that I might not be able to enter the city,” said Chan, a former chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association.
“They told me that I cannot enter Macau according to the internal security law of Macau and that they will send me back,” the human rights advocate said.
The only explanation given by the Macau officials was that his name was on a list and that they were just doing their job, Chan told the broadcaster.
He said he believed it was because of his role in the Article 23 Concern Group, set up in 2002 to campaign against the Hong Kong government’s plan to enact controversial security legislation.
The bill was to come under the Basic Law, the territory’s mini-constitution following its return to Chinese rule in 1997. Public pressure forced the government to shelve it in 2003.
Chan said he was not familiar with Macau’s new security legislation, which mirrored Hong Kong’s shelved security bill and took effect on Tuesday. Macau also has a mini-constitution after returning to China in 1999.
The professor said he had often traveled to Macau for academic exchanges and that Friday was the first time he had been turned away. He expressed concerns about the authorities’ curbs on academic freedom.
A spokesman for Macau’s government said three Hong Kong residents were denied entry between Friday and Tuesday, but gave no further details.
The two other residents were pro-democracy politicians Frederick Fung (馮檢基) and Bruce Liu (劉江華), the South China Morning Post said.
In December, nine Hong Kong pro-democracy politicians who planned to protest against the security bill in Macau were denied entry.
‘EYE FOR AN EYE’: Two of the men were shot by a male relative of the victims, whose families turned down the opportunity to offer them amnesty, the Supreme Court said Four men were yesterday publicly executed in Afghanistan, the Supreme Court said, the highest number of executions to be carried out in one day since the Taliban’s return to power. The executions in three separate provinces brought to 10 the number of men publicly put to death since 2021, according to an Agence France-Presse tally. Public executions were common during the Taliban’s first rule from 1996 to 2001, with most of them carried out publicly in sports stadiums. Two men were shot around six or seven times by a male relative of the victims in front of spectators in Qala-i-Naw, the center
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is leaning into his banking background as his country fights a trade war with the US, but his financial ties have also made him a target for conspiracy theories. Incorporating tropes familiar to followers of the far-right QAnon movement, conspiratorial social media posts about the Liberal leader have surged ahead of the country’s April 28 election. Posts range from false claims he recited a “satanic chant” at a campaign event to artificial intelligence (AI)-generated images of him in a pool with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “He’s the ideal person to be targeted here, for sure, due to
DISPUTE: Beijing seeks global support against Trump’s tariffs, but many governments remain hesitant to align, including India, ASEAN countries and Australia China is reaching out to other nations as the US layers on more tariffs, in what appears to be an attempt by Beijing to form a united front to compel Washington to retreat. Days into the effort, it is meeting only partial success from countries unwilling to ally with the main target of US President Donald Trump’s trade war. Facing the cratering of global markets, Trump on Wednesday backed off his tariffs on most nations for 90 days, saying countries were lining up to negotiate more favorable conditions. China has refused to seek talks, saying the US was insincere and that it
As Elon Musk called one of US President Donald Trump’s top economic aides a “moron,” the White House on Tuesday declared that “boys will be boys.” Musk and long-time Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro have been squabbling publicly over Trump’s decision to impose sweeping tariffs on most of its trading partners. The move has triggered a market sell-off and prompted analysts to wonder if the US is headed into a recession. “Look, these are obviously two individuals who have very different views on trade and on tariffs,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. “Boys will be boys, and we
RSS