HK man convicted over ‘seditious’ T-shirt
HONG KONG—A Hong Kong man on Monday pleaded guilty to sedition for wearing a T-shirt with a protest slogan, becoming the first person convicted under the city’s new national security law passed in March.
Chu Kai-pong, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of “doing with a seditious intention an act.”
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 prodemocracy protests in 2019 and June 12 was a key kickoff day of the monthslong unrests.
Chu told police that he wore the T-shirt to remind people of the protests, the court heard.
Chief Magistrate Victor So, handpicked by the city leader John Lee to hear national security cases, adjourned the case to Thursday for sentencing.
Hong Kong was returned from Britain to China in 1997 under Beijing’s promise of guaranteeing its freedoms, including freedom of speech, would be protected under a “one country, two systems” formula.
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 monthslong protests in the financial hub.
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