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Breaking: Hong Kong Journalists Association deeply concerned that National Security Department detained a journalist and withheld travel documents to assist in investigation

The reporter who recorded the incident live belongs to an online news outlet. Accompanied by the lawyer of the HKJA, the reporter gave her testimony to the police at the Police Headquarters on the following day. The police said they will contact her through her lawyer if necessary, and will also notify the Journalists Association. Her role, according to the police, was to "assist in investigation".

However, at 11pm on July 26, 2021, without making contact through the lawyer, the national security police arrived at the temporary residence of the reporter, and demanded yet another testimony at the Police Headquarters.

Accompanied by national security personnel, the reporter then called her lawyer, only to tell the lawyer that their presence was not needed at the police station.

The reporter gave another testimony to the national security police, and was only accompanied by a friend. The reporter was taken to her original residence for the police to "collect evidence". The police also confiscated the travel document of the reporter.

The police had also not contacted the HKJA as promised. After learning of the incident, the Association immediately contacted the police to express their disapproval. After much deliberation, the HKJA lawyer was finally able to arrive at Chai Wan Police Station to accompany the journalist at 1am July 27.

As the HKJA learned, the journalist's role is still to "assist in investigation". However, she has now already given a cautioned statement, and the police has confiscated her travel documents. Furthermore, the documents are detained under authority of the National Security Department.

The HKJA stresses that a reporter who recorded a suspected crime being committed on live video is only carrying out their duty as a journalist. The reporter had also carried out their civic duty of assisting the police investigation, and should receive only recognition, rather than the treatment this journalist had received.

The HKJA demands an immediate explanation from the police, whether the reporter involved is only "assisting in investigation". If so, why did the police search her residence and confiscate her travel documents?

Following from the above, do future witnesses or potential witnesses also risk having their travel documents confiscated?

The HKJA stresses that this incident is equivalent to a threat against all journalists in Hong Kong. If merely recording an incident could turn a journalist into a suspect, then how can journalists perform their work with a peace of mind?

Government officials have said multiple times that the National Security Law only "affects a small handful of people". However, the acts of the National Security Department here is entirely contrary to the words of the officials. Because of it, all journalists in Hong Kong have been "affected", even "threatened".

HKJA calls for the police to respond immediately to the incident. The association also calls on all journalists to follow the incident, to safeguard the freedom of press and our own rights.

Source: Hong Kong Journalists Association #Jul27

https://www.facebook.com/242729300308/posts/10159255381655309/?sfnsn=mo
#ChineseEmbassy complaints about ‘ugly’ photos at #TokyoOlympics

A complaint from a Chinese embassy about a western news wire’s “ugly” choice of an Olympic weightlifting photo backfired on July 26, 2021 after it emerged that a state-backed outlet used a similar image.

The Chinese embassy in Sri Lanka tweeted

“Among all the photos of the game, Reuters has chosen this one, which only shows how ugly they are.”

https://twitter.com/chinaembsl/status/14188363586432

Reuters used a photo of Chinese weightlifting gold winner Hou Zhihui straining to lift a barbell. However, state-run Xinhua, Sina and China Daily also ran similar images of Hou, though the latter replaced theirs.

A Chinese netizen on Sina Weibo claimed western media were “evil” and “not respecting Hou at all,” according to state-backed Global Times.

Source: Hong Kong Free Press #Jul27
https://hongkongfp.com/2021/07/26/chinese-embassys-complaint-about-western-news-outlets-ugly-olympics-photo-backfires/
#Court
Free speech or secession? "Liberate Hong Kong" at heart of landmark case

Source: Reuters #Jul27
Image: Stand News

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https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/30626
#Court
Free speech or secession? "Liberate Hong Kong" at heart of landmark case

Three Hong Kong judges will rule on Tuesday, July 27, 2021 whether the pro-democracy protest slogan "Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of our Times" is a call for secession when they deliver a verdict on charges against a 24-year-old man called #TongYingKit arrested at a demonstration on July 1, 2020.

The landmark ruling could have long-term implications for how a #NationalSecurityLaw that China imposed on its freest city on June 30, 2020 against secession, terrorism, subversion and collusion with foreign forces reshapes its common law traditions, some legal scholars say.

Activists say a ruling to outlaw the slogan will tighten limits on free speech.

In his closing speech on July 27, 2021, the defense lawyer Grossman said protesters worldwide often held up signs without facing prosecution, and that Tong should be acquitted if the meaning of the slogan was open-ended.

Grossman said [prosecution witness] Lau had an "untenable, rigid, mechanical view of history" that paid no heed to rhetoric, and the meaning of the slogan could not be pinned down as Lau was trying to do.

[Judge] Pang said the court would consider whether the "natural and reasonable effect" of the slogan could indeed incite others to secession, as well as Tong's criminal intent, in making its ruling.

Source: Reuters #Jul27
Image: Stand News

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/free-speech-or-secession-liberate-hong-kong-heart-landmark-case-2021-07-25/

#LiberateHongKong #ProtestSlogan #PoliceState #July1
#Breaking #Court
Hong Kong’s High Court found Pro-democracy Activist guilty in the city’s first-ever trial under the Beijing-imposed #NationalSecurityLaw

In a landmark verdict on 27 July, 2021, 24-year-old #TongYingKit was convicted of committing incitement to secession and terrorist activities. He could face up to life imprisonment as the court adjourned the sentencing.

Tong, who had pleaded not guilty to the charges, is the first person to be found guilty of breaching the controversial security legislation, which also outlaws subversion and collusion with foreign powers. The ruling will likely set a precedent for upcoming national security cases.

In handing down the verdict, Madam Justice Toh – who was handpicked by Chief Executive Carrie Lam to handle national security cases – said that, in the particular circumstances where Tong displayed the “#LiberateHongKong” slogan, such a phrase was capable of "inciting others to commit secession".

Source: HKFP; #Jul27
https://hongkongfp.com/2021/07/27/breaking
#Harrassement
China-funded Media Journalist Caught Photographing #InMedia Journalist's Computer in Court, Claims She Was Not Aware It's Prohibited

Source: InMedia #Jul27

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#Harrassement
China-funded Media Caught Photographing #InMedia Journalist's Computer in Court: "Not Aware It's Prohibited"

The ruling of the first case under Hong Kong's #NationalSecurityLaw was handed down on the 27th of July, 2021 at the High Court. Over 80 journalists were in attendance to hear the verdict.

Afterwards, an In-Media HK reporter was told by another attendee that a woman in a blue shirt sitting in the row behind them was photographing their computer screen during the hearing. The woman also opened her #WeChat application at one point, and it was unclear whether she had sent out the photo.

The In-Media reporter immediately confronted the woman and informed the security guard about her actions. The woman was asked to show her cell phone photos, and it appeared that she had taken two photos in court, one of which had captured the In-Media reporter’s conversation with a colleague.

The woman claimed that it was her first time in court, and was not aware that photography was prohibited. She insisted that she had not sent out the photos through WeChat, and had deleted the photos on the spot.

Security later told the In-Media reporter that the woman in question is a "reporter" from Dot Dot News, and she claimed that she took the photo to confirm whether the In-Media reporter was her colleague from #WenWeiPo, a China-funded media, who was also in attendance.

According to available information, Dot Dot News is a subsidiary of China-funded Wen Wei Po, and was granted interviewing privileges by the government in July 2019 as an online news media. However, there had been allegations that they had spread false rumors and fake news; Facebook had shut down Dot Dot News' page after investigations.

As for photography in court, the judiciary stated in a media response that photography by anyone, journalists included, is prohibited by law inside the court and attached facilities. There are also multiple signs in the court building stating so.

Source: In-Media HK #Jul27
https://bit.ly/3l2V9PM

#Doxxing #Court #CCP
‘They Have My Sister’: As Uyghurs Speak Out, China Targets Their Families

She was a gifted agricultural scientist educated at prestigious universities in Shanghai and Tokyo. She said she wanted to help farmers in poor areas, like her hometown in Xinjiang, in western China. But because of her uncle’s activism for China’s oppressed Muslim Uyghurs, her family and friends said, the Chinese state made her a security target.

At first they took away her father. Then they pressed her to return home from Japan. Last year, at age 30, Mihriay Erkin, the scientist, died in Xinjiang, under mysterious circumstances.

Source: NY Times #Jul27

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/27/world/asia/xinjiang-china-crackdown.html

#China #Crackdown #Xinjiang #Uyghur
House lawmakers push for diplomatic boycott of 2022 Winter Olympics in China

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers is introducing a measure to trigger a diplomatic boycott of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in China, over allegations that the country is committing genocide against its Uyghur and other Turkic Muslim minority groups.

The proposed amendment to the annual State Department funding bill, under consideration by the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday, comes from Rep. Michael Waltz, R-Fla., and is cosponsored by Democratic Rep. Tom Malinowski of New Jersey.

"It would have a significant impact on the United States sending an official delegation" to the Beijing Olympics next year, Waltz told ABC News on Tuesday.

Source: ABC News #Jul27

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/house-lawmakers-push-diplomatic-boycott-2022-winter-olympics/story?id=79073390

#Boycott #Winter #Olympics #China #Beijing #Uyghur
Foreign journalists harassed covering China floods, correspondents' club says

Journalists from several media outlets covering recent floods in China were harassed online and by local residents, with staff from the BBC and Los Angeles Times receiving death threats, according to the Foreign Correspondents' Club of China (FCCC).

In a statement on Tuesday, the FCCC criticised what it said was growing hostility to foreign media, some of which it said was fanned by official bodies.

"There must be immediate action by the Chinese government to stop these attacks which continue to endanger foreign journalists," the BBC said in a statement on Twitter.

Source: Reuters #Jul27

https://reut.rs/3zEkQu2

#China #BBC #LosAngelesTimes #FCCC #journalist
Ban Chinese firm from working on UK nuclear power stations, ministers told

Cross-party China hawks have called on the government to slap an “outright” ban on a Chinese state-owned firm’s involvement in all UK nuclear power plants.

Tory MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith and Labour peer Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws, co-chairs of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac), on Tuesday welcomed reports that ministers propose curbing Beijing’s links with future assets planned for Britain’s nuclear fleet.

However, the senior parliamentarians urged Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng to go further and reconsider the role of China general Nuclear (CGN) in the Hinkley Point C plant in Somerset, where construction is already significantly advanced.

Source: The Guardian #Jul27

https://t.co/3UTKL6wcfz

#Chinese #UK #University #Nuclear #CGN
Press groups raise alarm over threats to foreign media in China

Press groups have expressed alarm at the worsening intimidation of foreign media in China, often driven by government officials and organisations.

As recovery and rescue efforts continue in Henan province after last week’s deadly floods, groups including Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China (FCCC) have condemned recent harassment and threats towards journalists covering the disaster.

Reporters from international outlets – including the BBC, Los Angeles Times, Deutsche Welle, Al Jazeera, CNN, Agence France-Presse and Associated Press – have been harassed or threatened over their coverage.

Source: The Guardian #Jul27

https://bit.ly/3zHwLYy
 
#China #Media #Press #Alarm #FCCC
Johnson may block Chinese takeover of UK’s largest computer chip maker

Boris Johnson may block a Chinese-owned company from purchasing the UK’s largest producer of semiconductors, a senior government adviser has suggested, as they warned Beijing was on the brink of initiating a new “cold war”.

Tony Abbott, the former prime minister of Australia recruited by Johnson to advise on post-Brexit trade, said he was heartened by a review being launched into the takeover of Welsh microchip manufacturer Newport Wafer Fab by Nexperia and suggested it meant the process could be paused.

Johnson had asked his national security adviser, Sir Stephen Lovegrove, to look into the sale after previously being accused of acquiescing to the deal by not scrutinising it more closely, particularly given the semiconductor industry’s geopolitical prominence.

Source: The Guardian #Jul27

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jul/27/chinese-takeover-of-uks-largest-computer-chip-maker-may-be-blocked

#Johnson #UK #Chip #ColdWar
US says China’s claims in the South China Sea have ‘no basis’ in international law

"Beijing's claim to the vast majority of the South China Sea has no basis in international law," Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said. "That assertion treads on the sovereignty of the states in the region."

Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said Tuesday that Beijing’s expansive claims in the South China Sea have “no basis in international law”, taking aim at China’s growing assertiveness in the hotly contested waters.

Austin’s broadside came at the start of his first trip to Southeast Asia as US defence secretary, as he seeks to rally allies in the region as a bulwark to China.

Source : HKFP #Jul27

https://t.co/kZdPQJSHqP

#US #China #SouthChinaSea #Beijing
Oversea activists working on a Hong Kong Parliament

A group of oversea Hong Kong activists announced the Election Committee for the Hong Kong Parliament has been successfully formed on 27 July. They planned to organise a Hong Kong parliament member election, and all Hong Kong citizens, whether they are abroad or not, can vote.

Organizers Victor Ho and Elmer Yuen hope to achieve universal suffrage with this committee, and elect representatives truly belong to the people.

Source:HongKonger Unity Square #Jul27

#HongKongParliament #UniversalSuffrage #OverseasHKers #Election #HongKongActivists
Studies point to China's #HuananMarket as #epicenter of #Covid19, wildlife trade associated

The following is excerpted from a statement released by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (#AAAS), which is the publisher of the peer-reviewed journal "Science", on July 26, 2022:

//Two studies published in #Science by #MichaelWorobey et al. and #JonathanPekar et al. use complementary approaches – involving spatial and environmental analyses, as well as molecular analyses – to provide evidence that the Huanan market in #Wuhan, China, was the early epicenter for the COVID-19 #pandemic.

The scientists concluded that SARS-CoV-2 was very likely present in live mammals sold at this market in late 2019 and suggest the virus spilled over into people working or shopping there ... //

Read more:
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/959879

Source: AAAS; Canada TV #Jul27

https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/studies-suggest-covid-19-likely-emerged-from-wuhan-market-1.6003139

#WuhanPneumonia
#Report: Security concerns over compulsory app launched by Hong Kong government

Source: Open Tech Fund #Jul27

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