šŸ“”Guardians of Hong Kong aka BeWater HK
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We provide translation of news in English from local media and other sources, for academic use.
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The HK government spent almost 596 million on different construction projects while they reduce medical expenses by 250 million.

#economics #tax #MedicalExpenses #GoHKgraphics
The HK government spent almost 596 million on different construction projects while they reduce medical expenses by 250 million.

#economics #tax #MedicalExpenses #GoHKgraphics
#Court
Ex-head of Hong Kongā€™s Tiananmen vigil group convicted over ā€˜release political prisonersā€™ balloon

Source: Hong Kong Free Press #Apr28

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#Court
Ex-head of Hong Kongā€™s Tiananmen vigil group convicted over ā€˜release political prisonersā€™ balloon

//The former head of the group that organised Hong Kongā€™s Tiananmen vigil has been convicted of breaking aviation regulations by flying a balloon with a banner reading ā€œRelease political prisoners.ā€

Ex-lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan, who formerly headed the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, was fined and jailed at Eastern Magistratesā€™ Court on Thursday for the aviation offence and obstructing police.

The 65-year-old was convicted on two charges ā€“ flying a balloon exceeding two metres in controlled airspace, and obstructing a police officer.

Magistrate Jacky Ip fined him HK$3,500 for violating the aviation order and imposed a prison term of three weeks for obstruction. Two of the three weeks will run consecutively with the current jail term Lee is serving.//

Read more:
https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/28/ex-head-of-hong-kongs-tiananmen-vigil-group-convicted-over-release-political-prisoners-balloon/

Source: Hong Kong Free Press #Apr28

#PoliticalOppression #PoliticalPrisoner #Jail #LeeCheukYan
A global survey has been done on the responsibility of the current conflict in Ukraine.

#StoptheWar #Ukraine #China #GoHKgraphics
#Court
47 democratsā€™ subversion case adjourned to June 2022

Source: Hong Kong Free Press #Apr28

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#Court
47 democratsā€™ subversion case adjourned to June 2022

//Hong Kongā€™s high-profile subversion case involving 47 leading democrats has been adjourned to June 2022, days after a court judgement revealed at least 11 of them would plead guilty to the offence under the Beijing-imposed #NationalSecurityLaw.

Most of the group have been held in custody since their arrest in February last year and their cases have been repeatedly adjourned. Only 13 of them have been granted bail.

The democrats, accused of conspiracy to commit subversion, appeared before Principal Magistrate Peter Law on Thursday. The court is handling proceedings to commit them to the High Court, where the maximum penalty is life in prison.

Unlike previous hearings, the courtroom was relatively quiet when the democrats were escorted to the dock by corrections officers. Their family and friends, who took up most seats in the public gallery, only waved at the group and made hand gestures.

Court attendees have been less vocal since six people were arrested earlier this month under the colonial-era sedition law for allegedly causing nuisance during a hearing. One of the arrestees, citizen journalist Siew Yun-long ā€“ better known as Siu Wan ā€“ also attended Thursdayā€™s hearing.//

https://hongkongfp.com/2022/04/28/47-democrats-subversion-case-adjourned-to-june/

Source: Hong Kong Free Press #Apr28

#Save47 #PoliticalPrisoner #Jail
#Oppression #FailedState
Hong Kong law firm Vidler & Co, which handled protest-related cases announced closure after 19 years

Sources: Ming Pao, Chaser News

#HumanRights #HKLegalSystem #NationalSecurityLaw

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#Oppression #FailedState
Hong Kong law firm Vidler & Co, which handled protest-related cases announced closure after 19 years

A Hong Kong law firm, which specialised in Human Rights and handled multiple cases related to the 2019 protests will soon cease practising.

The Law Society of Hong Kong notified members that Vidler & Co. intended to cease practice on June 3 after 19 years of operations.

The firm took on several controversial incidents, including an alleged police gang rape and the case of Indonesian journalist Veby Mega Indah, who was allegedly shot in the face with a police projectile.

#MichaelVidler, owner of the firm, has also represented Joshua Wong Chi-fung and protester Ken Tsang Kin-chiu, who was beaten by several police officers in a dark corner in Admiralty.

4 days after the company announced its closure, Vidler was seen leaving the city on 25 April. In the airport, he was bombarded by a group of reporters from Ta Kung Pao, a CCP mouthpiece with questions in Chinese.

Reporters urged him to explain whether his departure is related to #PaulHarris who has left in March this year.

Vidler is on the panel of solicitors for the Legal Aid Department, the Duty Lawyer Scheme and is an approved solicitor for a number of consulates in Hong Kong.

He was twice elected in 2011 and 2017 as a representative of the legal functional constituency on the 1,200-member Election Committee, which is tasked with nominating and choosing Hong Kong's chief executive.

Sources: Ming Pao, Chaser News
https://news.mingpao.com/ins/%e6%b8%af%e8%81%9e/article/20220421/s00001/1650518079447

The Chaser News; #Apr25

Related article
Barrister #PaulHarris Leaves Hong Kong After Being Approached by National Security Police
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/32345
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[Interview on the 2nd anniversary of 831] A 19-year-old commemorates 831 in his youngest days

By Translated by Guardians of Hong Kong ā€“ October 4, 2021 ā€¢ 31 December 2021

Two years ago on 31 Aug, a lot of policemen entered Prince Edward Station to chase after and beat up protesters. They were criticized for committing violence against civilians. Simon, aged 17 at that time, was one of the injured in the event.

Video link below
https://bit.ly/3vuAJ78

Read our fully translated story here:
https://telegra.ph/Interview-on-the-2nd-anniversary-of-831-A-19-year-old-commemorates-831-in-his-youngest-days-12-31

Source: The Stand News #Aug30

Reporter: MOK Kwun-ling
Cameras: Ramsey AU, LAU Tsz-hong
Video Clipping: LAU Tsz-hong
Art work: LAU Yan-hin

#AntiELAB #MTR #Aug31
#PoliceState #FailedState
Hong Kong Ex-Policeman pleaded guilty to threatening and abusing his own daughter

A 42-year-old former policeman allegedly demanded his ex-wife to see him within 30 minutes, otherwise he would kill their 8-year-old daughter.

Over the phone, the wife could hear her daughter crying and begging the father: "Daddy, please don't. Daddy, please don't. I don't want to use the knife."

The daughter testified in court, and recounted that the man asked her if she wanted to "go with him", which she understood to mean dying. She answered yes at the time, though she didn't want to die.

Later on, when police arrived at the scene, they caught the man attempting to strangle his daughter with a leather belt around her neck and threatening her with a knife.

The man appeared in court on April 21 and pleaded guilty to criminal intimidation and child abuse. He is remanded until his sentencing on May 11.

Source: Channel C; #Apr21
https://bit.ly/3Mq9Nv3

#ChildAbuse #Threat
Is China Juicing GDP Data? Economists Canā€™t Help But Wonder

Itā€™s both the most tantalizing and persistent question in global economics: Is China cooking the gross domestic product books?

Admittedly, itā€™s been asked myriad times over the last decade. Often, itā€™s when growth rates among Chinaā€™s 23 provinces deviate from the national figure the Communist Party includes in quarterly press releases.

Even by these standards, though, Chinaā€™s reported GDP acceleration to 4.8% in the first quarter from 4% the previous one inspired a bull market in head-scratching. It made no sense amid cascading property markets and the return of large-scale Covid-19 lockdowns.

Source: Forbes #Apr29

https://www.forbes.com/sites/williampesek/2022/04/29/is-china-juicing-gdp-data-economists-cant-help-but-wonder/?sh=329cf5b239c7

#China #GDP #COVID19
#PressFreedom #Award #FCC #HKJournalistsAssociation
Hong Kong journalists win Foreign Correspondentsā€™ Club of Japan press freedom prize

While the Foreign Correspondentsā€™ Club (#FCC) in Hong Kong scrapped its annual human rights press awards just days before it was due to announce winners, claiming fear over the cityā€™s wide-ranging national security law, the Foreign Correspondentsā€™ Club of Japan offered Freedom of the Press Asia Award to all Hong Kong journalists.

Freelance journalist Ilgin Yorulmaz, co-chair of the clubā€™s press freedom committee, said that the award recognised journalists and media organisations who fight for free speech, the free exchange of information, and fight against censorship.

Upon receiving the award, Ronson Chan, Associate Chairman of Hong Kong Journalists Association, said "although the environment changed, most of us have remained in our position and try our best to find the truth for the Hong Kong community.ā€

Source: Inmediahk, #Apr25

https://bit.ly/3Mn4lsK
#Exodus #Oppression
Senior member of Hong Kong pollster leaves city for the UK, citing ā€˜red linesā€™

A senior member of Hong Kongā€™s leading independent pollster, #ChungKim-wah has left for the UK, calling the city a place where one may ā€œno longer live normally and without intimidation.ā€

In his lengthy statement on Facebook, Chung said he had not initially considered emigrating.

ā€œNow, I can only hope that the skies will be broader, the air fresherā€¦ and that I donā€™t have to think about whether the red lines that move arbitrarily will one day target me,ā€ deputy CEO of the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (#HKPORI) Chung wrote.

He added that he did not want his friends and loved ones ā€“ especially his elderly parents ā€“ to worry about him. ā€œI am apologetic that I left without saying goodbye, and I regret that I couldnā€™t say farewell to you all,ā€ Chung said.

#NationalSecurityLaw #WhiteTerror

Source: Inmediahk, HKFP; #Apr
https://bit.ly/3kb6J9X
Police with rifles rushed to a MTR station just because a child had a toy gun...

#PoliceForce #MTR #NationalSecurity #GoHKgraphics
#PressFreedom
Hong Kong Drops to the 148th Ranking out of 180 in 2021 World Press Index

Source: RSF; Mingpao #May3
Image source: Chaser News

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#PressFreedom
Hong Kong Drops to the 148th Ranking out of 180 in 2021 World Press Index

The Reporter Without Borders (#RSF) announced the latest World Press Index on May 3, 2022. The ranking of Hong Kong drops from the 80th to the 148th place, hitting the city's lowest record and claiming the largest drop among all 180 territories included in the survey.

RSF in their report called Hong Kong "once a bastion of press freedom" which "has seen an unprecedented setback since 2020 when Beijing adopted a National Security Law aimed at silencing independent voices."

Regarding the media landscape, RSF pointed out that "since the 1997 handover to China, most media have fallen under the control of the government or pro-China groups. In 2021, two major independent news outlets, #AppleDaily and #StandNews, were forcefully shut down while numerous smaller-scale media outlets ceased operations, citing legal risks."

RSF also detailsd how the Hong Kong SAR government "froze the assets of Apple Daily and Stand News, forcing them to cease operations and causing the unemployment of 860 of their staff."

The National Security Law is also a cause to the massive drop in Hong Kong's ranking in the World Press Index. According to RSF, the law is "a pretext to gag independent voices in the name of the fight against ā€œterrorismā€, ā€œsecessionā€, ā€œsubversionā€, and ā€œcollusion with foreign forcesā€. Due to its ambiguous phrasing, the law looks like it could apply to any journalist covering Hong Kong, regardless of their location."

Source: RSF; Mingpao #May3

https://bit.ly/3FebcSL

https://rsf.org/en/country/hong-kong
Is China In Decline?

Much of last week was spent in Rome, which is overwhelming in its sights, though the highlight for me was the peace of the Appian Way. Rome is also rich in lessons on civilisation, politics and strategy ā€“ many of which appear to be lost on leaders today. In that respect it is a good place to consider the rise and fall of nations, a phenomenon that is gathering pace.

Source: Forbes #May01

https://t.co/CaJPFdgcUR

#China #Decline
#SurveillanceState
LeaveHomeSafe app has built-in facial detection module, Hong Kong government admits

Source: FactWire; #May3

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#SurveillanceState
LeaveHomeSafe app has built-in facial detection module, Hong Kong government admits

#FactWire has discovered a facial detection feature in the source code of the governmentā€™s #LeaveHomeSafe mobile app, although it was unable to confirm whether the feature has been activated or if it is currently in use.

In response to FactWireā€™s inquiry, the government admitted to the existence of a facial detection feature in the applicationā€™s source code but claimed that it has never been used.

Read full article
https://www.factwire.org/en/leavehomesafe-app-has-built-in-facial-detection-module-government-admits/