Critics say officers in China’s monetary hub have used the crime of sedition, which has its roots in British colonial rule, to focus on authorities critics and suppress dissent. | Picture credit score: AFP
Hong Kong police stated on Saturday (August 31, 2024) that two individuals have been arrested for sedition underneath a brand new nationwide safety legislation, accusing them of spreading hatred in opposition to Chinese language and native authorities.
Friday’s arrests got here only a day after pro-democracy information outlet Stand Information and two former editors have been discovered responsible of sedition, the primary such conviction because the metropolis got here underneath Chinese language rule in 1997.
Critics say officers in China’s monetary hub have used the crime of sedition, which has roots in British colonial rule, to focus on authorities critics and suppress dissent.
A 41-year-old man and a 28-year-old lady have been arrested on Friday for committing “an act or acts having seditious intent” and remained in custody, police stated in an announcement.
Hong Kong media stated the arrests have been made in reference to a narrative that circulated extensively on social media this week after a college professor was killed on a prepare observe.
The creator expressed suicidal ideas out of despair over Hong Kong’s future. AFP was unable to confirm the identification of the one that wrote the article.
Police stated the girl was suspected of “publishing fraudulent ‘final phrases’ of the deceased in reference to a latest suicide case.”
They stated the person was accused of putting “commemorative mild bins” in a number of areas, with content material “scary hatred” in the direction of the governments of Beijing and Hong Kong, police stated.
The brand new nationwide safety legislation, handed in March and generally often called Article 23, elevated the utmost jail sentence for sedition from two years to seven.
It’s Hong Kong’s second nationwide safety legislation and follows one imposed by Beijing in 2020 following big and typically violent pro-democracy protests a yr earlier.
The protests sparked a crackdown on free speech that has seen critics of China jailed or compelled into exile.
The US and Britain are among the many most vocal critics of the brand new legislation, which they are saying has restricted rights.
As of August 1, 301 individuals had been arrested for nationwide safety crimes underneath varied legal guidelines.
hol/pbt
