Seven of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy advocates yesterday had part of their convictions quashed over their roles in one of the biggest pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Jimmy Lai (黎智英), founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper; Martin Lee (李柱銘), the founding chairman of the Democratic Party; and five former pro-democracy lawmakers, including barrister Margaret Ng (吳靄儀), had been found guilty of organizing and participating an unauthorized assembly.
Lai, Lee Cheuk-yan (李卓人), Leung Kwok-hung (梁國雄) and Cyd Ho (何秀蘭) were jailed for between eight and 18 months. Martin Lee, an octogenarian nicknamed the territory’s “Father of Democracy,” Ng and Albert Ho (何俊仁) were given suspended jail sentences.
Photo: AP
Their convictions two years ago and their sentences were widely seen as another blow to the territory’s flagging democracy movement under an unprecedented crackdown by Beijing and Hong Kong authorities.
Judge Andrew Macrae said he and other judges of the Court of Appeal unanimously quashed their convictions over the charge of organizing an unauthorized assembly, but their convictions over taking part in an unauthorized assembly were upheld.
Hence, the four democracy advocates who served their jail terms in prison have had part of their sentences in the case quashed, he said.
Macrae and his colleagues said in a written judgement that an organizer must take some responsibility for or do something active to plan and arrange an action.
“An inference that because they were at the front of the procession, they must have organized it ... is not a realistic or suitable substitute for evidence that they were involved in its organization,” the judgement said.
All appellants have served out their sentences for the case, but Lai, Leung, Ho and Lee Cheuk-yan remain in custody as they were also charged under a National Security Law imposed by Beijing in 2020 following the massive protests.
Ng, Martin Lee, Lee Cheuk-yan and Ho were in the courtroom to hear the judges’ decision. Ho and Lee Cheuk-yan appeared tanned and spirited.
The charges involved a rally in August 2019 that drew an estimated 1.7 million people onto Hong Kong’s streets to call for greater police accountability and democracy.
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
EYES AT SEA: Many marine enthusiasts have expressed interest in volunteering for coastal patrols, which would help identify stowaways and illegal fishing, the CGA said Six thousand coastal patrol volunteers are to be recruited for 159 inspection offices to enhance the nation’s response to “gray zone” conflicts, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sources said yesterday. Volunteer teams would be established to increase the resilience of coastal defense systems in the wake of two unlawful entries attempted by Chinese over the past three months, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. A former Chinese navy captain drove a motorboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in Taipei on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, while another Chinese man sailed in a rubber boat into the Houkeng
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
‘ANONYMOUS 64’: A national security official said that it is an attempt by China to increase domestic anti-Taiwanese sentiment and inflame cross-strait tensions The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) yesterday denied accusations by China that it had undermined regional security by carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, adding instead that Beijing was responsible for raising tensions and undermining regional peace. The Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat accused a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of targeting China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year through frequent cyberattacks. The group carried out cyberattacks to seize control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, adding the hackers’