#FreedomOfSpeech #PoliceState
Dutch journalist manhandled off camera by a Communist guard while reporting live outside the Beijing Olympic opening ceremony

//Dutch journalist Sjoerd den Daas was halted by Chinese guards as reported live on air.  

He was dragged away while his camera was also blocked as he covered the Olympic opening ceremony. His boss described the incident as a "a painful illustration" of the media is treated in China.//

Read full article:
https://www.insider.com/video-dutch-journalist-manhandled-off-camera-by-guards-at-olympics-2022-2

#WinterOlympics #CCP #Totalitarianism #Journalist #SjoerdDenDaas #NOSJournaal

#FreedomOfSpeech #PoliceState
#PoliticalOppression
#Free #JimmyLai" – Campaign for world attention on Hong Kong #HumanRights and Press Freedom

On Chinese New Year’s eve (Jan 31), a series of transatlantic illuminations aiming to draw international attention on China's #authoritarian rule over Hong Kong were seen on the walls of Tower Bridge in London and Chinese Embassy in Washington DC.

Bright white lights reading "Free Jimmy Lai and the Apple 7" of three storey tall were projected onto the walls.

In addition, the illuminations also showed the "Olympics rings in thorns", a portrait of Jimmy Lai and a yellow umbrella, the symbol of the 2014 Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong.

The US-based designer, Robin Bell said his intention was to grab people's attention on Human Rights around the world.

Mark L. Clifford, president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong, shared photographs of the illuminations on his Twitter page, calling the upcoming #WinterOlympics in #Beijing " the most shameful Olympics since the 1936 Nazi Olympics in Berlin”.

#ProtestArt #RobinBell #MarkClifford #AppleDaily #FreedomOfSpeech #FreedomOfPublication

Source: RFA; #Jan31
https://www.rfa.org/cantonese/news/uk-jimmy-02012022155410.html

#PressFreedom
US-funded news service suspends Cantonese commentary over National Security “redlines”

#FreedomofSpeech #NSL

Source: Radio France Internationale; #Feb10

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#PressFreedom
US-funded news service suspends Cantonese commentary over National Security “redlines”

US-funded news outlet Radio Free Asia (#RFA) has announced the suspension of its Cantonese programmes and commentaries, citing concerns about press freedom in Hong Kong and the “red lines” of the national security law.

“Given the dire situation in Hong Kong, locally-based commentators and hosts face increased risks. It has been clear over the past year that the ‘national security red lines’ are everywhere in Hong Kong,” the memo read. “The freedom of speech accorded to commentators and hosts under Hong Kong’s basic law is not protected by Hong Kong and Chinese laws.”

The broadcasts would be suspended from March 1 “until further notice”.

Founded in 1996, RFA is a non-profit news service funded by the US government to provide news about events in Asia. The outlet publishes in nine languages – including Burmese, Khmer, Korean, Uyghur and Vietnamese.

Source: Radio France Internationale; #Feb10
https://www.rfi.fr/tw/中國/20220210-指-國安紅線-無處不在-自由亞洲-撤香港本地評論節目

#PressFreedom #FreedomofSpeech #NSL

#StudentsUnion #Rights #FreedomOfSpeech
“Resist till the end”: Hong Kong Student Union vow to carry on the fight for student rights and academic freedom

The Student Development Services of City University (#CUHK) in Hong Kong has demanded its Student Union to vacate and return its premises by February 14, claiming that the union failed to comply with a request to submit 16 years of audited financial records within two weeks.

On February 14, representatives of the student union executive committee staged a parting ceremony before returning the office space. They marched from the office to Cut Price, a store run by the student union which offered stationery, snacks and other items to CityU students at a discounted price.

Using a calligraphy brush, a student wrote the phrases “freedom of thought,” “academic autonomy,” “[we will] not yield a single step” and “resist till the end” at the store entrance.

The march ended at the “democracy wall,” a message board previously used by students to share their views on political events. Next to the wall was the Goddess of Democracy statue, a monument commemorating Beijing’s military crackdown on a student-led democracy movement in Tiananmen Square on June 4, 1989.

Some students pushed over the red barricades surrounding the wall to put up memo stickers with final messages to the student union.

“Thank you, student union,” one note read.

Another one read: “Grateful that we have walked together for 37 years. Add oil, hang in there!”

Source: Inmediahk, HKFP, CityU Students Union Facebook; #Feb14
https://www.facebook.com/387603714763860/posts/1841380409386176/

=====
Related Articles
#University in Hong Kong demands #StudentUnion to hand over 17 years of audit reports in 2 weeks
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/32072

The 7th University in Hong Kong ceases recognition of its Students’ Union
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/32096
.

#NationalSecurityLaw #FreedomOfSpeech #WhiteTerror
CityU student union under national security investigation following parting ceremony in campus

Source: Inmediahk; #Feb20

Read more
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#NationalSecurityLaw #FreedomOfSpeech #WhiteTerror
CityU student union under national security investigation following parting ceremony in campus

City University of Hong Kong (#CityU) Student Union is being investigated by national security police after an on-campus parting ceremony on February 14, sources claimed. 

On February 7, the university announced it would take back the student union's premises in seven days, saying the union failed to submit its audit report for years.

The union held a farewell ceremony at its office on the afternoon of February 14 before moving out.

Around 30 students dressed in black gathered at the student union office, before leading the march on campus.

Over 100 have joined the march at its peak.

It was understood that the National Security Department has begun gathering evidence on campus.

When asked if CityU had reported the protest to the authorities, the school said: "the national security issues that arose was unforeseen. As it had attracted widespread attention, it didn't necessitate the school's reporting the incident."

Source: Inmediahk; #Feb20
https://bit.ly/3s1uRjP

===
Related Article
“Resist till the end”: Hong Kong Student Union leaders vow to carry on their fight for students’ right and academic freedom
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/32271?single
.

#Oppression #PressFreedom
Now news ‘deeply sorry’ over reporter’s question to HK leader about complaint mechanism for Chinese medical staff from China

#WuhanPneumonia #FreedomOfSpeech #RuleByFear #GratitudeEducation

Source: Inmediahk; #Mar17

Read more
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#Crackdown #Censorship
Slogan dedicated to victims of Tiananmen crackdown has been painted over and lined with a row of potted plants in a Hong Kong University

#CUHK #LingnanU #HKU #PillarOfShame #Education #FreedomOfSpeech

Source: Inmediahk; #Mar31
Photo credit: HKFP

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#Crackdown #Censorship
Slogan dedicated to victims of Tiananmen crackdown has been painted over and lined with a row of potted plants in a Hong Kong University

Residents at Swire Hall of the University of Hong Kong (#HKU) painted a slogan on the bridge after the Tiananmen crackdown in 1989.

Every year since then, HKU students have retouched the slogan, which read: “Souls of martyrs shall forever linger despite the brutal massacre; Spark of democracy shall forever glow for the demise of evils.”

33 years later, the university cordoned off the bridge claiming for “regular maintenance works”. Later on the slogan was found covered with cement and on top of it, a row of flower pots was added.

The removal of the slogan was part of a wider clampdown on commemorations of the Tiananmen crackdown at universities across Hong Kong.

In December, HKU dismantled the Pillar of Shame statue – an eight-metre sculpture that depicts bloodied bodies bundled together – in the middle of the night.

The next day, also in the early hours, a Goddess of Democracy statue and a relief sculpture were taken down at Chinese University (#CUHK) and Lingnan University (#LingnanU).

#CUHK #LingnanU #HKU #PillarOfShame #Education #FreedomOfSpeech

Source: Inmediahk; #Mar31
https://bit.ly/3J16po2

Photo credit: HKFP

#Arrest #StandNews
Hong Kong journalist Allan Au arrested by national security police

#NationalSecurityLaw #FreedomOfSpeech #Sedition #Crackdown

Source: Inmediahk, HKFP; #Apr11

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#Arrest #StandNews
Hong Kong journalist Allan Au arrested by national security police

Hong Kong veteran journalist #AllanAu was arrested by national security police in the morning of April 11 for allegedly conspiring to publish seditious materials, under the colonial-era anti-sedition legislation.

Linked to the Stand News case, Au is the 8th member being arrested following 7 others in December 2021.

Hong Kong National Security raid pro-democracy newspaper, arrested 6 senior staff
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31751

Hong Kong Authorities' #Crackdown on Stand News
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31752

Hong Kong Police Issues Arrest warrant for Stand News founder
https://t.me/guardiansofhongkong/31766

The 54-year-old journalist was previously a columnist for outlets including Stand News and Ming Pao. Au was taken away from his home in Lai Chi Kok by the National Security police to the police station in Kwai Chung.

#NationalSecurityLaw #FreedomOfSpeech #Crackdown #Sedition

Source: Inmediahk, HKFP; #Apr11

https://bit.ly/3E1djc5

"Wishing peace for Mr. Allan Au and all Hongkongers," wrote Ar To. "Outlive them. See you in the future."

Hong Kong artist #ArTo posted this comic today, after veteran journalist #AllanAu was arrested by national security police.

Au was accused of "conspiring to publish seditious materials", though the police refused to give details on which of his writings broke the law.

See also:
Hong Kong journalist Allan Au arrested by national security police
https://t.me/BeWaterHK/392

#Art #FreedomOfSpeech #NationalSecurityLaw #Sedition

Chief Executive-Elect Rejects Needs to Defend Freedom in Hong Kong

Hong Kong Chief Executive-Elect, John Lee visited the Legislative Council in early May and was asked why defending the freedom of speech and the press freedom was not in his election platform.

Lee argued that the city's mini-constitution, Basic Law has offered freedom in Hong Kong in many ways.

"We have all the freedom." He defended, "But this doesn't mean we have the freedom to violate the law."

Lee also added, "so long as permitted by the law, everyone has absolute freedom."

Source: Inmediahk; #May09

#ChiefExecutive #JohnLee #PressFreedom #FreedomOfSpeech

https://bit.ly/398Qbxa

One More News Outlet Closes Down in Hong Kong

#FactWire is an independent investigative news agency founded in Hong Kong in 2015, with the support of 3,300 Hong Kongers through crowd-funding.

For the past six years, FactWire has published a number of in-depth news reports, covering a wide range of topics from the safety issues at Taishan Nuclear Plant in China, the 2019 Anti Extradition protests, to the latest Chief Executive election in Hong Kong.

However, under the current political environment of Hong Kong, FactWire announced its closure on June 10, 2022. Despite the support of the public and their subscribers, the independent news agency made the decision to cease operation and dismiss all its employees.

In a statement published on their website, they wrote:

"In recent years, the media has contended with great change. Despite having wrestled many times with the difficult decision as to whether to continue our journalistic work, we had always come to the same affirmative conclusion: to stand fast to our core values and beliefs, and to always report the facts."

The news agency reiterated that "It is our honour to have been witnesses to, and scribes of Hong Kong’s history with you", and asked Hongkongers to "take care".

Read the statement:
https://www.factwire.org/en/termination-of-operation/

Source: Factwire; InMedia #June10

https://bit.ly/3ts2cF5

#FreedomOfSpeech #PressFreedom #AppleDaily #StandNews #CitizenNews

Famed Hong Kong Author Ni Kuang Passed Away at 87; Novel Warned of Doom if Hong Kong Lost Its Freedom

Hong Kong author Ni Kuang passed away at home on July 3, 2022 at 87 years of age. A prolific Chinese-language novelist and screenwriter, he was the author of numerous celebrated science fiction novels, including the long-running Wisely series and Dr. Yuen series.

His death was widely mourned by Hong Kong's netizens as well as fellow writers. Author Sai Shing Sun, who is a friend of Ni and had long considered him to be his godbrother, posted on Facebook: "Big Brother Ni had left this afternoon." Columnist and writer Chip Tsao posted a photo of him and Ni together, and remembered him as "the most clear-minded individual in the Chinese-speaking world these past 70 years".

Ni appeared on an #RTHK talk show three years ago, where he and veteran lawyer Paul Shieh discussed his novel "Chasing the Dragon" (追龍). The story revolved around a great city in the east, and it was prophesied that it would lose its great qualities, and the city would thus perish.

An excerpt from "Chasing the Dragon" reads:

"To destroy a great city, the cause doesn't have to be a natural catastrophe; it could also be a man-made disaster. And it is not necessarily a war; but a few words of a few people, the foolish and ignorant acts of a few people - it is enough make a great city completely die. You don't have to destroy its buildings. You don't have to kill a single inhabitant. You can even make it appear the same as before on the outside. You only need to make its great qualities disappear, and city would then perish and die."

Ni, who fled China after the Communist Party came to power, said on the program that the novel was a political allegory for Hong Kong.

"Hong Kong was liberated, just like Shanghai was liberated, by the Communists. They came to power with their own principles. People talk about 'One Country Two Systems' this and that, and I only laughed at them for being so easily duped. They asked me why; I said I don't even believe that One Country Two Systems exists. What do you mean it's damaged? The question is moot.

"Communists do whatever they want. Communists promised One Country Two Systems; since when were Communists trustworthy? They never followed through a single promise all these years."

If Hong Kong were to lose its freedom, he said on the 2019 show, then Hong Kong's great quality would be destroyed. "[They would] be unreasonable, and restrict people's freedoms ... mainly the freedom of speech. It's the mother of all freedoms. Without freedom of speech, you have no other freedoms."

source: In-MediaHK.net #Jul4
https://bit.ly/3a9pWHA

#NiKuang #HongKongLiterature #FreedomOfSpeech #OneCountryTwoSystems #CCP

Former Student Union President Arrested for Sharing Post in Social Media

In Hong Kong, former president of the Chinese University of Hong Kong student union Owen Au Cheuk-hei was arrested by officers of the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC). He was accused for sharing a post on social media urging people to cast a blank vote in the Legislative Council (LegCo) election in 2021.

In response to an inquiry from Hong Kong In-Media, the ICAC confirmed the arrest of a person on July 12, 2022 for sharing a post on social media, allegedly inciting others to cast blank votes or not to vote in the 2021 Legislative Council general election, breaching section 27A of the Elections (Corrupt and Illegal Conduct) Ordinance.

Source: Hong Kong In-media (#Jul12)

#CUHK #StudentUnion #SocialMedia #ICAC #LegCo #Election #FreedomOfSpeech #PoliticalPrisoner #Censorship

https://bit.ly/3OZ23lm