A Hong Kong man today pleaded guilty to sedition for wearing a T-shirt with a protest slogan, becoming the first person convicted under the territory's new national security law passed in March.
Chu Kai-pong (諸啟邦), 27, pleaded guilty to one count of "doing with a seditious intention an act."
Photo: AFP
Under the new security law, the maximum sentence for the offense has been expanded from two years to seven years in prison and could even go up to 10 years if "collusion with foreign forces" was found involved.
Chu was arrested on June 12 at a MTR station wearing a T-shirt with the slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times” and a yellow mask printed with “FDNOL,” the shorthand of another slogan "five demands, not one less.”
Both slogans were frequently chanted in the huge, sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in 2019 and June 12 was a key kick-off day of the months-long unrests.
Chu told police that he wore the T-shirt to remind people of the protests, the court heard.
Chief Magistrate Victor So (蘇惠德), handpicked by Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee (李家超) to hear national security cases, adjourned the case to Thursday for sentencing.
Beijing imposed a national security law in 2020 punishing secession, subversion, terrorism or collusion with foreign forces with up to life in prison, after the months-long protests in the financial hub.
In March, Hong Kong passed a second new security law — a home-grown ordinance also known as "Article 23" according to its parent provision in the territory's mini constitution, the Basic Law.
Critics, including the US government, have expressed concerns over the new security law and said the vaguely defined provisions regarding "sedition" could be used to curb dissent.
Hong Kong and Chinese officials have said it was necessary to plug "loopholes" in the national security regime.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
‘BODIES EVERYWHERE’: The incident occurred at a Filipino festival celebrating an anti-colonial leader, with the driver described as a ‘lone suspect’ known to police Canadian police arrested a man on Saturday after a car plowed into a street party in the western Canadian city of Vancouver, killing a number of people. Authorities said the incident happened shortly after 8pm in Vancouver’s Sunset on Fraser neighborhood as members of the Filipino community gathered to celebrate Lapu Lapu Day. The festival, which commemorates a Filipino anti-colonial leader from the 16th century, falls this year on the weekend before Canada’s election. A 30-year-old local man was arrested at the scene, Vancouver police wrote on X. The driver was a “lone suspect” known to police, a police spokesperson told journalists at the
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has unveiled a new naval destroyer, claiming it as a significant advancement toward his goal of expanding the operational range and preemptive strike capabilities of his nuclear-armed military, state media said yesterday. North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Kim attended the launching ceremony for the 5,000-tonne warship on Friday at the western port of Nampo. Kim framed the arms buildup as a response to perceived threats from the US and its allies in Asia, who have been expanding joint military exercises amid rising tensions over the North’s nuclear program. He added that the acquisition
RSS