Three former members of a Hong Kong group that organized annual vigils to mark China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, were yesterday found guilty of not complying with a national security police request for information.
Chow Hang-tung (鄒幸彤), 38, a prominent Hong Kong democracy advocate and former vice-chairperson of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China, was among those convicted by the magistrate court.
Two other former standing committee members of the alliance, Tang Ngok-kwan (鄧岳君) and Tsui Hon-kwong (徐漢光), were also found guilty.
Photo: Reuters
The now-disbanded alliance was the main organizer of Hong Kong’s June 4 candlelight vigil for people killed in the Tiananmen Square Massacre. Every year it drew tens of thousands of people.
Since Hong Kong’s massive pro-democracy protests in 2019, authorities have not allowed the vigil to take place on COVID-19-related grounds.
The alliance disbanded in September 2021 after authorities arrested several senior members of the group, including Chow.
The trial started late last year, more than a year after the defendants were arrested. The alliance was accused by prosecutor Ivan Cheung (張大有) of being a “foreign agent” for an unnamed group, after allegedly receiving HK$20,000 (US$2,548) from it.
Chow denied this in court, saying it was an independent civil society group run by Hong Kongers, and that the case amounted to “political persecution.”
“The existence of an independent organization like us that can check power is essential to the security of a nation, not a threat,” she told the court.
Magistrate Peter Law (羅德泉), who was hand-picked to hear national security cases by Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed leader, said in a written judgement that it was necessary for the police to “ascertain the background” of the group given its political activities and “nexus of interactions with local and non-local organizations and people.”
Sentencing is expected on Saturday with a maximum jail term of six months for this particular offense.
Chow has already served two prison terms for unlawful assembly linked to her involvement in organizing Tiananmen commemoration events, but still faces a separate, graver charge of subverting state power through the alliance.
Some key details of the case, including the overseas organizations and individuals alleged to have ties to the alliance, were kept confidential after the prosecutor applied for “Public Interest Immunity,” saying that the disclosures would the harm public interest.
‘UPHOLDING PEACE’: Taiwan’s foreign minister thanked the US Congress for using a ‘creative and effective way’ to deter Chinese military aggression toward the nation The US House of Representatives on Monday passed the Taiwan Conflict Deterrence Act, aimed at deterring Chinese aggression toward Taiwan by threatening to publish information about Chinese Communist Party (CCP) officials’ “illicit” financial assets if Beijing were to attack. The act would also “restrict financial services for certain immediate family of such officials,” the text of the legislation says. The bill was introduced in January last year by US representatives French Hill and Brad Sherman. After remarks from several members, it passed unanimously. “If China chooses to attack the free people of Taiwan, [the bill] requires the Treasury secretary to publish the illicit
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
A senior US military official yesterday warned his Chinese counterpart against Beijing’s “dangerous” moves in the South China Sea during the first talks of their kind between the commanders. Washington and Beijing remain at odds on issues from trade to the status of Taiwan and China’s increasingly assertive approach in disputed maritime regions, but they have sought to re-establish regular military-to-military talks in a bid to prevent flashpoint disputes from spinning out of control. Samuel Paparo, commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, and Wu Yanan (吳亞男), head of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theater Command, talked via videoconference. Paparo “underscored the importance
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said