Beijing slams threats to judge who sentenced HK tycoon Jimmy Lai
Hong Kong arrested more than 10,000 people over anti-government protests in 2019, including Jimmy Lai. (AP pic)
HONG KONG: Beijing’s office that oversees matters in Hong Kong has warned of threats made to a judge who sentenced media tycoon Jimmy Lai and other democracy activists for their roles in an unauthorised assembly on Oct 1, 2019.
A representative for the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO) said the presiding judge had received threatening phone calls, which the office said would not be tolerated.
“This is a serious threat to the personal safety of judges, a flagrant challenge to the judicial system in Hong Kong and a gross violation of the rule of law and order in Hong Kong,” Xinhua quoted a statement by HKMAO as saying late on Sunday.
The statement followed one by Hong Kong’s Department of Justice late on Friday that said a judge had been intimidated, without providing details.
On Friday, judge Amanda Woodcock sentenced Lai, an ardent critic of Beijing, to 14 months in jail, and nine others to up to 18 months for their roles in the rally.
Hong Kong arrested more than 10,000 people over anti-government protests in 2019, and some of those cases are now making their way through the court system.
The unrest led Beijing to impose a contentious national security law on its freest city in June 2020, and more than 100 people have been arrested under the law so far, including Lai.
The law punishes what Beijing broadly defines as secession, sedition, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in jail.
Forty-seven democracy activists charged with conspiracy to commit subversion are set to appear in court on Monday, in a case that has drawn criticism from Western governments and international rights groups.
Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with a guarantee of a high degree of autonomy until 2047. Critics say authorities are chipping away at those freedoms, an assertion officials in Hong Kong and Beijing reject.
HONG KONG: Beijing’s office that oversees matters in Hong Kong has warned of threats made to a judge who sentenced media tycoon Jimmy Lai and other democracy activists for their roles in an unauthorised assembly on Oct 1, 2019.
A representative for the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office (HKMAO) said the presiding judge had received threatening phone calls, which the office said would not be tolerated.
“This is a serious threat to the personal safety of judges, a flagrant challenge to the judicial system in Hong Kong and a gross violation of the rule of law and order in Hong Kong,” Xinhua quoted a statement by HKMAO as saying late on Sunday.
The statement followed one by Hong Kong’s Department of Justice late on Friday that said a judge had been intimidated, without providing details.
On Friday, judge Amanda Woodcock sentenced Lai, an ardent critic of Beijing, to 14 months in jail, and nine others to up to 18 months for their roles in the rally.
Hong Kong arrested more than 10,000 people over anti-government protests in 2019, and some of those cases are now making their way through the court system.
The unrest led Beijing to impose a contentious national security law on its freest city in June 2020, and more than 100 people have been arrested under the law so far, including Lai.
The law punishes what Beijing broadly defines as secession, sedition, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in jail.
Forty-seven democracy activists charged with conspiracy to commit subversion are set to appear in court on Monday, in a case that has drawn criticism from Western governments and international rights groups.
Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with a guarantee of a high degree of autonomy until 2047. Critics say authorities are chipping away at those freedoms, an assertion officials in Hong Kong and Beijing reject.
"conspiracy to commit subversion"...
ReplyDeleteVery Communist mentality
Equally, a very Yankee mentality as in the Capitol hill 'revolution' gimmicky trial!
DeleteSo which is which within yr definition under that fart filled well?
This BULLY kerajaan so zalim. What law has Grandma Wong broken? Jaywalking? Eating Epal in Public?
ReplyDeleteQUOTE
Hong Kong’s ‘Grandma Wong’ arrested for solo Tiananmen protest
Detention of of veteran pro-democracy activist clear sign of authorities’ zero tolerance to dissent
The Guardian
Mon 31 May 2021
Police in Hong Kong have arrested a 65-year-old democracy activist as she staged a lone demonstration over China’s deadly Tiananmen crackdown, in a vivid illustration of the zero tolerance wielded by authorities towards protest in the financial hub.
Alexandra Wong was detained on Sunday on suspicion of taking part in an unlawful assembly as she walked towards Beijing’s liaison office in Hong Kong.
Wong – known locally as “Grandma Wong” – was a regular fixture of the huge democracy protests that swept Hong Kong in 2019. She could often be seen waving a union jack flag, a symbol of her dissatisfaction with Beijing’s rule since the city was handed to China by the former colonial power in 1997.
Protest is now all but outlawed in Hong Kong. Authorities have used both the threat of the coronavirus and security concerns to outlaw demonstrations.
A vigil planned for this Friday – the 32nd anniversary of Beijing’s 1989 crackdown on democracy protests in Tiananmen Square – has been denied permission for the second year in a row.
Authorities have cited the pandemic as a reason for the ban, although Hong Kong has not recorded any local transmission cases of unknown origin for the past month.
Activists had also sought permission for a small Tiananmen-themed march on Sunday to the liaison office, which represents the central government in the city, but it too was denied permission.
Wong turned up that afternoon holding a sign that read “32, June 4, Tiananmen’s lament” and a yellow umbrella, a symbol of Hong Kong’s democracy movement.
The South China Morning Post said Wong started chanting slogans in a park before heading towards the liaison office by herself, while being followed and filmed by police. She was stopped twice.
“I’m only by myself, just an old lady here. Why stop me?” the Post quoted Wong as telling officers. Soon afterwards she was arrested.
Police confirmed a 65-year-old woman with the surname of Wong had been arrested for “knowingly participating in an unauthorised assembly and attempting to incite others to join an unauthorised assembly”.
Hong Kong’s democracy movement has been crushed by a broad crackdown on dissent over the past year, including the imposition of a sweeping security law that criminalises much dissent.
In the middle of the 2019 protests Wong disappeared for more than a year. She resurfaced saying she had been detained by mainland authorities during a trip to Shenzhen, a neighbouring city where she lived at the time.
UNQUOTE
Why so lopsided in yr c&p news picking?
DeleteWhy no c&p explanations announced from the relevant authorities?
Maybe any blackgoating farts about China/CCP/Chinese r real news while proper clarifications from the equal r propagandas!
BTW, yr favorite “Grandma Wong” has been a consistent pommie flag waver in all the known news picking. She should activate her BNO & gets the f*ck out from HK. Go back to her dreamed pommieland & see how she would fairweathered her fate under her adopted pommie care.
Oooop… diehard China/CCP/Chinese bashing mentality lah!
communist judge
ReplyDeleteU 吹?
DeleteBetter concentrate on yr beloved Formosa - more bad news r coming out from the carpet!
not as bad as 2km queue in guangzhou.
DeleteYaloh, as been portraited loudly by those Formosa 水炮 & swallowed wholesome by u!
DeleteThese bunch of scums are traitors and separatists. The rioters were funded by the NED, an offshoot of the CIA; with the CIA agents providing the 'training' and 'logistics' to causes massive destruction and disruption to the entire city.
ReplyDeleteHong Kong legislators OPENLY and REPEATEDLY sought support from USA to sanction China and Hong Kong. The Hong Kong activists and politicians declared publicly to fight for the interest of USA and against China, appealing to Washington to overthrow the governments of Hong Kong and China.
In many countries, these traitors and separatists would have been locked up for many years. Guess what the US did to separatist leaders of Puerto Rico ? Their leaders were locked up for 35 years. One of the leaders, Oscar Lopez Riviera, was only released in 2016 by Obama when he was 73 years old and in poor health. The separatist leaders of Catalonia were jailed by the Spanish Central Govt for 13 years.
The 14 months that ring leader Jimmy fuckery Lai gets is just a mere slap on the wrist.
Now that the national security law has been passed, the 1600 or so CIA agents have decamped and sold off $6 Billion worth of property, Hong Kong is much more peaceful....no more burning of human being alive, no more physical attacks of people with different political views, no more looting and destruction of private and public properties, no more blockage of traffic and MTRs.