HK National Security Police Accuses Veteran Pro-democracy NGO as "Agent of Foreign Power"

On August 25, 2021 in Hong Kong, the National Security Police appeared at the barrister's office of #ChowHangTung, the vice-president of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. The police cited Article 43 of the National Security Law and demanded Chow to hand over "information about the Alliance" including meeting records since 2014.

The Alliance is a pro-demoncracy charity group established in Hong Kong, as a response to the 1989 June 4th Tiananman Massacre by the Chinese Communist Party that year. The Alliance has been organizing the June 4 candlelight vigil at Hong Kong's Victoria Park since 1990.

According to Chow, the police in the letter claimed that the Alliance is "an agent of foreign power". The police specifically asked for information regarding the Alliance's potential exchanges with "political parties outside the PRC or Taiwan"; Mark Simon, the former aide of Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai; and humanitarian lawyers' group.

Chow said, "The whole matter is clearly an abuse of the national security law to suppress civil society."

Chow also said other core members of the Alliance have received similar demand from the police.

Source: Stand News; RTHK #Aug25
https://thestandnews.page.link/ttbhffLt5CmDSrNj6

#PoliticalProsecution #NationalSecurityLaw #Alliance #June4Massacre #WhiteTerror
#ForeignPower

#Perseverence
Arrested Pro-democracy Activist #ChowHangTung opposes Hong Kong Alliance’s disbandment: "I would choose not to lose, not to forget, not to give up, and to persevere until the last moment.”

Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho Chun-yan, chairman and former vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, who are currently detained, issued a joint open letter on September 17, 2021, stating that the best solution for the pro-democracy Alliance is to disband.

[Editor's note: After a special meeting on September 25, 2021, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China passed a motion to dissolve.

https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31135]

The Alliance had been the organizer of the annual June 4 Tiananmen Massacre Candlelight Vigil in Hong Kong's #VictoriaPark since 1990.

On September 23, 2021, an "Open Letter from Chow Hang-Tung to Hong Kong Alliance (before and after)" was published on Chow's personal Facebook page, stating that she cannot see the act of disbanding any help in continuing the Alliance's philosophy.

"Please oppose the dissolution motion and give the Alliance a chance to continue," Chow expressed despite being arrested and detained.

Chow, a barrister by profession, also pointed out, "The regime has chosen to annihilate us all, so we have to choose whether to persist until the end or to bail out before it’s too late. On this choice, I would choose not to lose, not to forget, not to give up, and to persevere until the last moment.”

Source: Stand News #Sept23
https://thestandnews.page.link/bEjeeCGyLUq7i5Zt8

#TonyeeChow #Disband #HKASPDMC #Alliance #NationalSecurityLaw #Unafraid #OpenLetter #Courage

#TonyeeChow #Court
Hong Kong Judge Questions Arrested Pro-democracy Barrister: Can You Access Internet in Jail?

Barrister Tonyee Chow Hang-tung is a pro-democracy activist in Hong Kong and the former Vice Chairperson of Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. The now-disbanded Alliance was known for organizing the annual June 4 vigil in Hong Kong to commemorate the victims of the Tianamen Square Massacre in Beijing in 1989.

She was arrested for state subversion by the Hong Kong authority.

The authority accused her of calling on citizens to participate in June 4th commemorative event in 2020, which was banned by the government. Chow was charged with "inciting others to participate in an unauthorised assembly".

The case was heard in Hong Kong's West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts by Judge Chan Wai-mun on October 5, 2021.

Chow, who has been detained since her arrest, stated that she would defend herself and make her own statement. She will argue whether it is constitutional to restrict the dispute to freedom and whether the related article she disseminsted can ce considered as an "incitement".

Due to the limited resources she has when on remand, Chow asked for one to two weeks' time for preparation.

The Judge then questioned her, “Where did you find the law books in jail? Can you access Internet?” The query made citizens attending the session laughed.

Chow responded that she would rely on her professional knowledge of law and seek help from friends.

Source: Stand News #Oct5
https://bit.ly/2ZXtBCZ

#June4 #HKASPDMC #Vigil #TiananmenSquareMassacre #Internet #ChowHangTung #CivilSociety #Law #Alliance

#Censorship
Hong Kong public libraries purge 29 titles about the Tiananmen Massacre from the shelves

Hong Kong's libraries now have 392 fewer copies of books about the June 4, 1989 massacre than they did in 2009, an HKFP review has found.

In June 2009, the Home Affairs Bureau made public a spreadsheet of 149 titles about the 1989 June 4 massacre that were in Hong Kong’s public libraries at the time, with a total of 1,162 copies available for lending or reference. By inputting each title into the current online catalogue for public libraries, HKFP found that 29 of the titles — 26 in Chinese and three in English — were no longer available as of November 9.

Twelve years on, the number of June 4 titles that can be borrowed — including those that must be retrieved from reserves or requested from library staff — has dropped to 34 per cent, or 41 titles.

Readers must make an enquiry with a librarian and wait for over 30 minutes to retrieve a title from on-site reserves, library staff told HKFP. For a HK$3.3 fee, readers may place requests for the titles in advance, but would have to wait about a week for delivery.

Among the June 4 titles now purged from public libraries are ones published by the Hong Kong Alliance, as well as works by a former leader of the group who was handed a suspended jail sentence for his role in last year’s unauthorised vigil, and by former leaders of the 1989 protests now in exile overseas.

The Tiananmen Massacre on June 4, 1989 ended months of student-led demonstrations in China calling for democracy and other reforms. It is estimated that hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people died when the People’s Liberation Army was deployed to crack down on protesters in Beijing.

Information on the event has in the past three decades been heavily censored in mainland China, both on and off the internet. Hong Kong’s freedom to commemorate the event, report on it or read books about it is seen as a litmus test of whether the city can safeguard its freedoms after the handover from Britain to China in 1997.//

Read the full article:
http://hongkongfp.com/2021/11/21/hong-kong-public-libraries-purge-29-titles-about-the-tiananmen-massacre-from-their-shelves/

Source: Hong Kong Free Press #Nov21

#TianamenMassacre #PublicLibrary #MemoryWar #June4 #Alliance #Erasure #Books

#Court #PoliticalProsecution
#ChowHangTung References #TiananmenMassacre Against Accusations by Hong Kong Authorities

On January 4, 2022, Hong Kong court found Barrister Chow Hang-tung, chairperson of the Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, guilty of "inciting others to join an unauthorized assembly" in 2020 — being the annual June 4th vigil in Victoria Park. The Alliance has been the organizer of the annual candlelight vigil in Hong Kong in commemoration of the victims of the June 4 Tiananmen Massacre in Beijing since 1989.

West Kowloon Magistrate Amy Chan made the ruling according to a newspaper article and two social media posts published by Chow. Chow was sentenced to 15 months in jail. In addition to the sentence for another June 4 case, Chow will be jailed for 22 months in total.

As Chow defended herself, her speech won applause from the attendees of the court session.

Chow pointed out how commemorating June 4 was turned from the "bottomline of conscience" to a "dangerous red line". Following the removal https://bit.ly/3zoJArf June 4 related monuments and the closure of Stand News and Citizen News, this left no room to publicly talk about the 1989 June 4 Tiananmen Massacre. Nevertheless, Chow said that she believes in the power of words, "Words have life which cannot be determined by the authorities nor the court." Chow said she would continue to speak up, regardless of the sentence.

In her conclusive statement, Chow cited the testimonies of the families of the Tiananmen Massacre and recounted how military tanks ran over civilians and pro-democracy protesters on the streets of Beijing in 1989. The judge interrupted Chow, questioning the relevance to the case. Chow said the victims of the Tiananmen Massacre are the victims of the case, "their voices should be heard in court more than mine."

The attendees of the court session applaused, while the judge ordered the police to "mark down their names and ID card numbers."

Chow concluded, "those who should plead for forgiveness are those executioners who destroyed families and those who called the Pillar of Shame ugly." Chow said she will preserve the candle of June 4 and bear the consequence of white terror.

Source: Ming Pao; InMedia; RTHK #Jan4
#Conscience #Perseverance #NeverGiveUp #Resistance #June4 #Alliance

#ChowHangTung‘s fiancé writes open letter: “When winter is here, spring is not too far away”

On January 4, 2022, Hong Kong court sentenced Barrister Chow Hang-tung, chairperson of the Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, to 15 months in jail for “inciting others to join an unauthorized assembly” in 2020. Said assembly was the annual June 4th vigil held every year since 1989 in Victoria Park, Hong Kong in commemoration of the victims of the June 4 Tiananmen Massacre in Beijing.

Yedu, Chow's fiancee and human rights activist in China, wrote a letter to Chow a few days prior to the court's ruling. The letter was slated to be released by Citizens News, but the news outlet was shut down on January 4, 2022. The letter was at last made public on Facebook.

In the letter, Yedu said a heavy sentence was expected and that rule of law has fallen in Hong Kong. Yedu wrote the letter when former and current management members of Stand News was arrested. "This is the beginning of a long winter," Yedu wrote.

"When winter is here, spring is not too far away,” Yedu also wrote.

Freedom is fragile. According to Yedu, freedom can be “trampled by the regime in a short time,” even that “the right to mourn would be silenced”. A regime does not need citizen, only subjects.

However, seeing how Hongkongers sent letters to Chow and showed support inside and outside of the court, Yedu said, “I can see that people's hearts are not dead yet.”

At last, Yedu cited the lyrics of “Flower of Freedom,” a song dedicated to the pro-democracy protesters who were wounded by or died of the 1989 June 4 Tiananmen Massacre in Beijing:

"However heavy the rain is, the flower of freedom will still bloom.”

On the same day, Chow's personal page was updated with the statement she gave in court on January 4, 2022:

"The only way to defend the freedom of speech is to keep talking."

Source: InmediaHK #Jan5

#Court #PoliticalProsecution
#Resistance #Yedu #Alliance #NeverGiveUp

=====
Related News

Chow Hang Tung References #TiananmenMassacre Against Accusations by Hong Kong Authorities
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31821

#today2yearsago
Two Year-mark of #NationalSecurityLaw and 25th Anniversary of the #TransferOfSovereignty: 126 People Charged, 83 in Detention and 63 Involved in Literary Inquisition

Two years ago on July 1, 2020, the National Security Law imposed by Beijing without passing through Hong Kong's legislature was enforced in the city. Authorties in Hong Kong and China claimed that the criminalisation of speech would not happen and the law would "only affect a small number of people". They also claimed that the rights and freedom of Hong Kong people will not be affected.

As of June 29, 2022, however, at least 198 people have been arrested for "violating national security" in the past two years. Among them 126 people and 5 companies — including #AppleDaily, #StandNews and the #Alliance — were prosecuted. 83 of them have been taken into custody and more than half have been detained for more than one year. The longest period of detention is 660 days and is still counting.

Among these cases, almost the entire pro-democracy camp has been "locked up" due to the primary election. Pro-democracy and independent news outlet like Apple Daily and Stand News were shut down; meanwhile, court procedures are progressing very slowly.

This marks the 25 years since the #1997TransferOfSovereignty of Hong Kong to China.

Source: InMedia #Jun30
https://bit.ly/3HZ9Vk9

[Editor’s Note: Compared to the commonly used term “handover”, the term “Transfer of Sovereignty of Hong Kong to China” conveys aptly the complexity of multi-sided perspectives that is the “handover”, and shows as much neutrality regarding the issue at the whole. Feel free to check out BBC Chinese’s article:
https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/trad/chinese-news-40441492 ]

#WhiteTerror #SpeechCrime #NSL #Authoritarianism #PoliceState

#Court
Hong Kong court quashes decision to enforce reporting ban on activist’s national security case in landmark ruling

//Reporting restrictions on proceedings regarding the transfer of criminal cases to the High Court must be lifted if the defendant makes such a request, a Hong Kong court has ruled.

The landmark judgement, which could extend to cases prosecuted under the national security law, came after activist #ChowHangTung challenged a magistrate’s decision to retain reporting restrictions in a national security case.

In a ruling published on Tuesday, August 2, 2022, High Court Judge Alex Lee said that magistrates had no say in whether to lift reporting restrictions on committal proceedings if the accused had applied to do so.

Chow, along with the Alliance, and the group’s former leaders #LeeCheukYan and #AlbertHo, were charged under the Beijing-imposed #NationalSecurityLaw over alleged incitement to subversion.

The Alliance, before it was disbanded in September last year, organised Hong Kong’s annual candlelight vigils commemorating victims of the #TiananmenCrackdown, where it is estimated that hundreds, perhaps thousands, died when the People’s Liberation Army cracked down on protesters in #Beijing on June 4, 1989.//

Read the full article:
https://hongkongfp.com/2022/08/02/hong-kong-court-quashes-decision-to-enforce-reporting-ban-on-activists-national-security-case-in-landmark-ruling/

Source: Hong Kong Free Press #Aug2

#Alliance #PoliceState #Censorship #JudicialReview #NSL