Ian Patrick, FISM News
The plight of the people in Hong Kong continues as the first man to be charged under the sweeping national security law has just been found guilty of inciting secession and terrorism. He had pleaded not guilty to these charges before the trial took place.
Tong Ying-kit was arrested on July 1, 2020 after riding a motorbike into a group of police officers in Hong Kong while bearing a flag that read “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times.” The sentencing was adjourned for Thursday with Tong possibly facing a life-sentence for these charges.
#BREAKING: Tong Ying-kit is found guilty of terrorism and inciting secession, becoming the first person convicted under Hong Kong's national security law.
Last year, he drove a motorcycle with the slogan "Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times" into police. Photo: i-Cable. pic.twitter.com/bD0nlP1GZR
— Holmes Chan (@holmeschan_) July 27, 2021
The trial itself mainly focused on the protest slogan found on Tong’s flag, as both the prosecution and defense called witnesses to debate whether or not it is considered to be inciting violence. Hong Kong’s government sided with the Chinese crackdown by banning the slogan after Tong’s arrest, saying that it promoted “pro-independence, secession and subversion.”
One of the justices in the case, Madame Justice Toh, handed out the verdict, saying that the way Tong displayed the flag was intended to incite secession and violence. The judges also agreed that his act of driving into the police “seriously jeopardized public safety or security.”
Critics of the so-called security law believe that this guilty verdict will pave the way for similar verdicts of more than 100 other citizens arrested under this law. Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Regional Director Yamini Mishra said that the conviction posed an “ominous” threat to human rights in Hong Kong and called it a “violation of international law.”
To convict Tong Ying–kit of ‘secession’ for displaying a flag bearing a widely used political slogan is a violation of international law, under which expression must not be criminalized unless it poses a concrete threat.