HONG KONG — A Hong Kong court on Thursday sentenced the first two people under a tough new national security law pushed by Beijing, including a man who was given 14 months in prison for wearing a T-shirt with a protest slogan. A second man received 10 months for writing pro-independence messages on the back of bus seats.
Chu Kai-pong, 27, wore a shirt on June 12 reading “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times,” a slogan chanted during anti-government protests in 2019. That day was the fifth anniversary of a demonstration in which thousands of people surrounded the city’s legislative council complex to protest a now-withdrawn extradition bill. Months of often-violent protests followed as demonstrators expanded their demands to call for greater police accountability and democracy.
Authorities have said the protest slogan could imply the separation of Hong Kong from China — a red line for the ruling Communist Party in Beijing.
Mr. Chu pleaded guilty in court on Monday to the charge of carrying out an act or acts with a seditious intent. The cases were seen as a symbol of the decline of civil liberties and the rule of law and the central government tightened its hold on the onetime British colony and global financial center.
The 2019 protest movement was the most concerted challenge to the Hong Kong government since Hong Kong reverted to Chinese rule in 1997. It waned because of massive arrests, the exile of democracy activists, the COVID-19 pandemic and the imposition of an earlier 2020 security law by Beijing.
The city’s new security law, which critics say further stifles freedom of expression, took effect in March and imposes stiffer punishments for sedition offenses. Offenders face up to seven years in prison, up from the previous maximum sentence of two years for a first offense and three years for a subsequent offense.
Colluding with an external force to carry out such activities is now punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
In handing down Mr. Chu’s sentence on Thursday, Chief Magistrate Victor So said June 12 is viewed as a symbolic date among protesters and the offenes were not minor because the defendant used the date in an effort to encourage others to remember the unrest and revive ideas about it. That caused a great risk to social order, he said.
He noted that Mr. Chu had already been jailed for sedition earlier this year and his subsequent act showed the deterrent effect of his previous sentence was insufficient.
He said Mr.Chu “planned to commit a crime shortly after he was released from prison and was evidently unwilling to reform,” but reduced the prison term by one-third because of the defendant’s guilty plea.
In January, Mr. So sentenced Mr. Chu to three months in jail under a colonial-era law before the security law took effect. In that case, Mr.Chu was arrested for wearing a similar T-shirt at the airport and possessing publications deemed seditious by authorities.
The court heard on Monday that Mr. Chu had told police that he wore the T-shirt in June to remind people of the 2019 protest movement. Mr. Chu also wore a mask printed with “FDNOL,” an abbreviation of another protest slogan, “Five demands, not one less.”
The prosecution accused Mr. Chu of attempting to cause hatred, contempt or disaffection toward the country’s fundamental system and the city’s constitutional order. It said his acts could incite others to use illegal means to change policies on which the authorities have already ruled.
In a separate case on Thursday, another man, Chung Man-kit, pleaded guilty to three counts of sedition. The court sentenced him to 10 months in prison, saying Mr. Chung knowingly broke the law by writing statements on the back of bus seats promoting Hong Kong independence.
Amnesty International’s China director, Sarah Brooks, said Mr. Chu’s conviction and sentencing over his clothing choice highlighted “the sheer malice” of the new security law. She urged local authorities to repeal the law.
“Chu Kai-pong is the first person convicted under this legislation, but its vague wording, vast scope and repressive nature leaves Hong Kongers fearing that he will not be the last,” she said.
The Beijing and Hong Kong governments insist the two security laws are necessary for maintaining the city’s stability.
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