A Hong Kong court sentenced the father of a wanted democracy activist to eight months in prison under the territory’s homegrown national security law, after he attempted to terminate her insurance policy and withdraw the funds.
Kwok Yin-sang (郭賢生), 69, was found guilty on Feb. 11 for “attempting to deal with, directly or indirectly, any funds or other financial assets or economic resources” belonging to an “absconder” under the national security law, also known as Article 23.
He is the first person in the territory to be charged and convicted with the offense. He had pleaded not guilty and did not testify at the trial.
Photo: AFP
In court yesterday, he appeared calm and waved goodbye before being taken back into custody.
His daughter, Anna Kwok (郭鳳儀), is the executive director of the Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council, and is one of 34 overseas activists wanted by the Hong Kong National Security Department.
She is accused of colluding with foreign forces and police have offered a HK$1 million (US$127,838) bounty for her arrest.
“To sentence my father under the pretext that his actions lowered the ‘likelihood’ of my return to stand trial is not justice; it is a judicial farce,” Anna Kwok said after the sentencing.
The insurance policy was never in her name, whether as owner or policyholder, and she had never exercised any control over it, she added in a statement.
“My father was convicted and sentenced under the guise of ‘national security’, she said. “In truth, this is guilt by blood, this is hostage taking. This is transnational repression.”
Her father was accused of trying to withdraw HK$88,609 from an insurance policy that he bought for her when she was two years old.
Magistrate Andy Cheng (鄭念慈) said Kwok Yin-sang’s case was serious under Article 23 and had nothing to do with family ties.
“There is no such thing as ... collective punishment, and it has absolutely nothing to do with whether the defendant and the fugitive are family,” Cheng said.
Asked what she would like to tell her father, Anna Kwok said in Washington before the sentencing that she wanted to hug him and apologize for putting him in such a difficult situation.
“Asian dads are not very known for showing affection with hugs and I realized this year, I actually ... don’t think I’ve ever hugged my dad since I became an adult,” she said.
China imposed a sweeping National Security Law on Hong Kong in 2020 and the territory’s legislature passed a second set of national security laws — Article 23 — in 2024, to plug what authorities called “loopholes” in the national security regime.
FEROCIOUS FISH-EATER Scientists have found a new species of dinosaur from the Cretaceous Period, a ‘hell heron’ that stalked the rivers, deep in the Saharan desert At a remote Sahara desert site in Niger, scientists have unearthed fossils of a new species of Spinosaurus, among the biggest of the meat-eating dinosaurs, notable for its large blade-shaped head crest and jaws bearing interlocking teeth for snaring fish. It prowled a forested inland environment and strode into rivers to catch sizable fish like a modern-day wading bird — a “hell heron,” as one of the researchers put it, considering it was about 12 meters long and weighed 5-7 tons. The dinosaur presented a striking profile on the Cretaceous Period landscape of Africa some 95 million years ago as it hunted
THE TRAGEDY OF PUNCH: Footage of the seven-month-old Japanese macaque has gone viral online after he was rejected by his mother and formed a bond with a soft toy A baby monkey in Japan has captured hearts around the world after videos of him being bullied by other monkeys and rejected by his mother went viral last week. Punch, a Japanese macaque, was born in July last year at Ichikawa City Zoo. He has drawn international attention after zookeepers gave him a stuffed orangutan toy after he was abandoned by his mother. Without maternal guidance to help him integrate, Punch has turned to the toy for comfort. He has been filmed multiple times being dragged and chased by older Japanese macaques inside the enclosure. Early clips showed him wandering alone with
DRUG WAR: The former president said there was no campaign to kill addicts, but his speeches called for violence and told police to use lethal force if necessary Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte earned global infamy for the deadly drug crackdown that led to his arrest over crimes against humanity charges, despite his huge popularity at home. A profane-lipped populist and self-professed killer, Duterte’s anti-crime campaign resulted in the deaths of thousands of alleged dealers and addicts. Rights groups said many of those killed were poor men, often without any proof they were linked to drugs. Yet, while drawing condemnation abroad, tens of millions of Filipinos backed his swift brand of justice — even as he joked about rape in his rambling speeches, locked up his critics and failed to
GAME CHANGER The Russian invasion of Ukraine has shown the utility of small drones for recon, for supporting logistics and for killing across the modern battlefield Five European nations have announced a new program to produce low-cost air defense systems and autonomous drones using Ukrainian expertise, hard-won over the past four years fighting against Russia. Friday’s initiative of the five nations — France, Poland, Germany, the UK and Italy — comes as one of many European efforts to bolster defense along their borders, like a “drone wall ” with Russia and Ukraine to better detect, track and intercept drones violating Europe’s airspace. Both Moscow and Kyiv have cutting-edge drone warfare capabilities forged in the grim laboratory of war where battlefield innovations have rewritten modern battle tactics. Poland is
RSS