Paul Harris: Oppression of peaceful protest and a continual increase in agitation between ruling party and public may lead to violence, quoting examples of unjust trials from history of Northern Ireland

Paul Harris, Chairman of the Hong Kong Bar Association (#HKBA) notices both the ruling party and the public in Hong Kong are immersed in strong emotions since 2019. This is worrying.

He quotes Northern Ireland in the 70s as example. Terror attacks by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (#PIRA), public anger and fear occupied the whole country. These pushed both the ruling party and the public to act strongly in a hurry. The ultimate result was a series of unjust, wrong or false charges.

Hong Kong should take this as a lesson.

Read the fully translated article here:

https://telegra.ph/Paul-Harris-Oppression-of-peaceful-protest-and-a-continual-increase-in-agitation-between-ruling-party-and-public-may-lead-to-vio-06-14

Source：Stand News #Apr21

#Interview #PaulHarris #Peaceful #Protest #Violence

#PoliticalProsecution #PoliceState
HK Police Raids #AppleDaily Again: 3 Editors and 2 Executives Arrested for Breaching National Security Law

Apple Daily, the only pro-democracy newspaper in print in Hong Kong, has been the target of the national security police since the forced implementation of the national security law in the city in June 2020.

Even though founder #JimmyLai had already been arrested and remains in custody, the Hong Kong police continues to raid the headquarters of the newspaper and its parent company; seizing documents, computers and journalistic materials; and making arrests.

In the raid on June 17, 2021, the police deployed 500 officers and arrested five executives including editor-in-chief #RyanLaw.

The other four are deputy editor #ChanPuiMan, chief executive editor #CheungChiWai, chief executive #NextDigital #CheungKimHung, and the chief operating officer #ChowTatKuen.

Authorities claimed that the newspaper published articles allegedly calling for "foreign sanctions" and had been "colluding with foreign forces", thus has violated the national security law.  

Some of the articles cited date back to 2019, before the law's implementation.  The government had previously promised that the new law would not be applied to offences before the law had come into effect.

Meanwhile, Secretary for Security #JohnLee ordered freezing HK$18 million worth of assets from Apple Daily Limited, Apple Daily Printing Limited and AD Internet Limited, all under Jimmy Lai's Next Digital Limited.  Li openly asked the public and the media to cut ties with the executives of Apple Daily.    

When asked, Li admitted the government's intention to prevent the pro-democracy newspaper from being printed before July 1, 2021, the anniversary of the Hong Kong SAR's establishment, when large-scale protest takes place every year.

Photo: #FirstHand
Text: RTHK; Stand News; Apple Daily #Jun17

https://bit.ly/2Uh0iZn
https://bit.ly/35sgKIe
https://bit.ly/3zxfpOa

#Censorship #WhiteTerror #Intimidation #Smearing #Regime

‘They are in no hurry’: Beijing plays the long game as Canadians languish in China’s prisons
 
The “Two Michaels,” Canadians Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, have garnered international attention. Their arrests in December 2018 were widely seen as retaliation for the arrest of Chinese telecom executive Meng Wanzhou by the RCMP in Vancouver at the behest of the United States.

But when Kamila Telendibaeva hears the Michaels’ names mentioned repeatedly by political leaders and journalists, she has mixed emotions.

“I feel sorry for the Michaels, I feel really sorry,” she says. “But when I hear the Michaels’ case, I always think: ‘Where’s Huseyin’s case? Why they don’t want to bring it up? Why they don’t want to raise it?’ It hurts. He’s a Canadian.”
 
Source: Global News #May08

https://t.co/PLK608DJ5s

#Canadians #China #Michaels