Taiwanese civic groups and Taiwan-based Hong Kongers in Taipei yesterday voiced support for Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong (黃之鋒), calling on the Hong Kong government to drop the charges against him and immediately and unconditionally release Wong and other Hong Kong political prisoners.
Wong, the former secretary-general of pro-democracy group Demosisto, is imprisoned in Hong Kong’s Stanley Prison for his conviction for “subversion of state power.”
While serving his sentence, he was charged again by Hong Kong police. Prosecutors alleged that between July and November 2020, Wong conspired with former lawmaker Nathan Law (羅冠聰) and others to call on foreign governments and organizations to impose sanctions, a blockade or other hostile actions against Hong Kong and China.
Photo: AP
This is the second time Wong has been prosecuted under the Hong Kong National Security Law. Under the law, the offense generally carries a prison sentence of three to 10 years. If the offense is deemed “serious,” the sentence can be increased to 10 years or more, up to life imprisonment.
Wong yesterday pleaded guilty to foreign collusion in a second national security trial against him that could see him jailed for life.
At the Taipei rally in front of the Legislative Yuan, Hong Kong Outlanders secretary-general Sky Fung (馮紹天) said that Hong Kong’s national security laws were being used to suppress dissidents and restrict Hong Kongers’ freedoms.
The groups put forward four demands.
The first is for all charges against Wong to be dropped and for him to be released immediately and unconditionally.
The second is for the Hong Kong government to stop using the Hong Kong National Security Law and the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance to suppress peaceful advocacy, freedom of expression, freedom of association and international human rights efforts.
Third is the immediate release of all Hong Kong political prisoners jailed for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.
Fourth, they called on the Taiwanese government to publicly voice its support and work with the international community to monitor Wong’s case, his treatment in prison and the plight of Hong Kong political prisoners.
Hong Kong Human Rights Front founder Henry Tong (湯偉雄) said that many Hong Kongers have been imprisoned for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly since the anti-extradition protests.
Shih Yi-hsiang (施逸翔), a senior researcher at the Taiwan Association for Human Rights, said the Hong Kong government had signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), yet has deprived Wong of his liberty for more than 2,100 days.
In its 2022 concluding observations, the UN Human Rights Committee directly criticized the Hong Kong government for applying the National Security Law in an overly broad and arbitrary manner, criminalizing legitimate cross-border advocacy and using it to suppress freedom of expression and the right to participate in public affairs, Shih said.
New School for Democracy Association secretary-general Kung Chin-lung (龔欽龍) said the National Security Law had helped silence criticism in Hong Kong and abroad by creating fear of imprisonment.
Taiwanese human rights activist Lee Ming-che (李明哲) said that regardless of the outcome of Wong’s trial, the case would go down as one of the most shameful episodes in human history, adding that it reflected the corruption of the Chinese government.
“Taiwan should learn from Hong Kong’s experience and reject the Chinese government’s attempts to exert influence over Taiwan,” he said. “Taiwan must refuse to become the next Hong Kong.”
Additional reporting by AFP
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