Shih Ming-teh (
Before appearing in the Taipei District Court yesterday afternoon, Shih told reporters that he would serve jail time immediately if the court were to convict him of violating the Assembly and Parade Law (集會遊行法).
However, he said that the 15 campaign organizers, who were also indicted for violating the law, would continue to push for the abolition of the "unconstitutional" and "flawed" law.
PHOTO: CNA
Taipei prosecutors indicted Shih and 15 campaign organizers on Aug. 3 for staging a rally outside Taipei Railway Station and "laying siege" to the Presidential Office on Oct. 10 last year without first applying for a permit from the Taipei City Police Department.
Prosecutors said the police had put up warning signs and broadcasted requests for the protesters to leave, but they refused to move.
Among those indicted with Shih were Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus whip Kuo Su-chun (郭素春), People First Party Legislator Shen Chih-hwei (沈智慧), former KMT legislator and Taipei City Department of Cultural Affairs Director Lee Yong-ping (李永萍), Taipei City Research & Development Evaluation Commissioner Emile Sheng (盛治仁) and New Party Taipei City Councilor Lee Hsin (李新).
Nine others were named in the indictment: Chien Hsi-chieh, Liu Kun-li (
Shih also lashed out at the DPP yesterday, saying the party "might have forgotten that the party also opposed the law in the past."
"Taiwanese have suffered under Martial law and the Assembly and Parade Law during our pursuit of democracy and freedom," Shih said, criticizing the DPP for exploiting the law to bring him to trial.
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody
The US-Japan joint statement released on Friday not mentioning the “one China” policy might be a sign that US President Donald Trump intends to decouple US-China relations from Taiwan, a Taiwanese academic said. Following Trump’s meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday, the US and Japan issued a joint statement where they reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Trump has not personally brought up the “one China” policy in more than a year, National Taiwan University Department of Political Science Associate Professor Chen Shih-min (陳世民)
‘NEVER!’ Taiwan FactCheck Center said it had only received donations from the Open Society Foundations, which supports nonprofits that promote democratic values Taiwan FactCheck Center (TFC) has never received any donation from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), a cofounder of the organization wrote on his Facebook page on Sunday. The Taipei-based organization was established in 2018 by Taiwan Media Watch Foundation and the Association of Quality Journalism to monitor and verify news and information accuracy. It was officially registered as a foundation in 2021. National Chung Cheng University communications professor Lo Shih-hung (羅世宏), a cofounder and chairman of TFC, was responding to online rumors that the TFC receives funding from the US government’s humanitarian assistance agency via the Open Society Foundations (OSF),
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