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#PoliticalPersecution #PoliceState
HK Pro-democracy Activist punished in solitary confinement for arbitrary offences

On July 20, 2021, Former Councilor of Southern District, #TiffanyYuen Ka-wai, had finished serving her 4-month jail term after taking part in the June 4 vigil at Victoria Park in 2020, which was banned by the police for the first time in 30 years.

At the end of her prison term, she was sent to the Lo Wu Correctional Facility to continue to be detained for charges linked to the pro-democracy camp primaries of Legislative Council election in 2020.

At the detention cell, she hugged several other pro-democracy activists also being detained.

Soon afterwards, Yuen was penalized by the authorities for “making physical contact with other prisoners” and placed in solitary confinement for 10 days.

Yuen’s friend Wong Li-li told reporters that there was no enforcement guidelines in the Correctional Services Department decision. Wong explained that “physical contacts” occur naturally in prison routines, condemning that the Department’s decision is arbitrary and targeting unfairly at Yuen.

Look into the Prison Rules in Hong Kong for offences against prison discipline, it certainly didn’t consist of making “physical contact with other prisoners," Wong said.

#HKProtest #NationalSecurityLaw #WhiteTerror #FailedState

Source: InMedia; #Jul24

https://bit.ly/3kSnwA6

#PoliticalSuppression #PoliticalActivists #Prison
#AsiasFinest #PoliceState #FailedState
#HongKongPolice Reinstates #NationalSecurity Director Caught in Unlicensed Massage Parlour as Personnel and Training Director

Frederic #ChoiChinPang, the National Security director of the Hong Kong Police Force (#HKPF) has been placed on leave after he was caught in a raid on an unlicensed massage parlour in May 2021. It was the first big scandal to hit the National security unit after it was set up to enforce the controversial #NationalSecurityLaw a year ago.

In just 3 months’ time, Choi has resumed duty and will be reinstated as Director of Personnel and Training in mid-August, 2021.

Police chief Raymond Siu Chak-yee quoted the Department of Justice that Choi’s case "does not involve any criminal offense". Siu also confirmed that Choi will resume his duty in the police force and take the post of Director of Personnel and Training.

Source: Stand News; #Aug12

https://www.thestandnews.com/politics/%E6%B6%88%E6%81%AF%E8%94%A1%E5%B1%95%E9%B5%AC%E6%9C%AC%E5%91%A8%E4%B8%89%E5%B7%B2%E5%BE%A9%E8%81%B7-%E8%AA%BF%E4%BB%BB%E4%BA%BA%E4%BA%8B%E5%8F%8A%E8%A8%93%E7%B7%B4%E8%99%95%E8%99%95%E9%95%B7

#MassageParlour
Hong Kong's Largest and Oldest Teachers' Union Disbanded After Being Attacked by Pro-Beijing Forces

The Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union (#HKPTU) announced its disbandment on September 11, 2021. Established in 1973, the group has been the largest and oldest teachers' union in the city.

The group's pro-democracy stance has been attacked by pro-Beijing media funded by the Chinese Communist Party government and was picked up by the Hong Kong government.

Source: Stand News #Sept11

#PoliceState #WhiteTerror #Censorship #Attack
#PrisonerRights
Solitary Confinement in HK Prison: 10 Days for Hugging, 7 Days for Sharing Books; Maximum Above UN Rule

"You stay in bed all day. For seven days straight. You can only go to the toilet, and it's right next to the bed."

Stand News interviewed four former prisoners who had faced solitary confinement in Hong Kong's prisons. In their experience, this punishment was handed out often, and the experience is long and painful. As sleeping pills are not permitted in prisons, they could only take painkillers to help themselves sleep.

In July, news broke that pro-democracy district councilor #TiffanyYuen had endured 10 days of solitary confinement as punishment for hugging a fellow prisoner. Lawyer and chairperson of Hong Kong Alliance #ChowHangTung, who was also in prison at the time, also faced the same punishment for 3 days for sharing postage stamps with other inmates. Others had been penalized for 7 days for exchanging books and photographs, or 3 days for sharing chocolate.

What is the metric for such punishments? According to Correctional Services' response to Stand News: "Any prisoner who commit offenses against prison discipline as described under clause 61 of the Prison Rules [1] will be prosecuted by the Services according to the rules. If a disciplinary hearing determines that the prisoner have violated the rules, then the Services will impose punishments according to clause 63 of the Prison Rules. If the prisoner disagrees with the ruling, they may appeal it according to established procedures."

The prison rules of Hong Kong sets an upper limit for solitary confinement at 28 days. However, according to the United Nations' "Nelson Mandela Rules" - adopted in 2015 and named in honor of the former president of South Africa and activist for human rights, equality, democracy, and peace - prisons should prohibit solitary confinement longer than 15 days.

Furthermore, the UN Committee Against Torture had published a report in 2016, in which the committee expressed concern with the maximum length of solitary confinement in Hong Kong prisons. It also called to attention the rule of "removal from association" - forbidding prisoners from associating with others on vague grounds such as "for the maintenance of good order or discipline or in the interests of a prisoner".

Though the report made several recommendations to Hong Kong for clarifying the rules and bringing the limits of punishments to be closer to the Nelson Mandela Rules, prisoners released this year still reports that solitary confinement remains a common punishment. According to data from Correctional Services, there were 3181 instances of solitary confinement handed out among 14689 prisoners in 2019. This number had been above 3000 every year since 2016.

The Correctional Services did not comment when asked if it had implemented the UN committee's suggestions, and if it would reduce or abolish solitary confinement as a punishment.

[1] Cap. 234A Prison Rules: https://www.elegislation.gov.hk/hk/cap234A!en-zh-Hant-HK?xpid=ID_1438402870147_001&INDEX_CS=N

#HumanRights #PoliceState

Source: Stand News; #Sept2
https://www.thestandnews.com/society/%E5%9B%9A%E6%AC%8A%E6%B0%B4%E9%A3%AF%E6%88%BF%E7%9B%B8%E6%93%81%E5%9B%9A%E4%B8%83%E6%97%A5-%E6%8F%9B%E6%9B%B8%E5%9B%B0%E5%8D%81%E5%A4%A9-%E7%8D%A8%E5%9B%9A%E6%9C%80%E9%95%B728%E6%97%A5-%E8%B6%85%E5%87%BA%E8%81%AF%E5%90%88%E5%9C%8B%E8%A6%8F%E5%89%87
#Remembrance
Citizens Lay Down White Flowers on 2-Year Anniversary of Student Protester's Death

Today (November 8) marked the second year since the passing of pro-democracy Hong Kong student #ChowTszLok. Citizens around the city brought brocades of white flowers to the site of his fatal fall in remembrance.

During the anti-ELAB movement in 2019, Chow, a 22-year-old university student, fell from the 3rd floor of a car park in Tseung Kwan O as police clashed with civilians in nearby streets.

He died from his injuries in hospital 4 days later, on November 8, 2019.

A Coroner’s inquest was conducted in January 2021 to determine cause of Chow’s death. However, as the jury was unable to decide the causes and circumstances of his death, the coroner pronounced an open verdict.

#LestWeForget #PoliceBrutality #AlexChow #PoliceState

Source: Stand News; #Nov8
https://www.facebook.com/710476795704610/posts/4718291671589749/
#Remembrance #FirstHand
Grandma Wong Arrested while Paying Tribute to Chow Tsz-lok

Grandma Wong was in Tseung Kwan O around 7:30pm, holding a handbill with the number 2 in her hands, signifying the two years since the death of Chow Tsz-lok.

She chanted familiar protest slogan “Five Demands No One Less”, and called for establishing an independent inquiry commission to investigate the cause of Chow's death.

Moments later, Grandma Wong was quickly surrounded by police officers, who then took her away in a police car.


See also:
Citizens Lay Down White Flowers on 2-Year Anniversary of Student Protester's Death
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/31377

#ChowTszLok #AlexChow #TseungKwanO #LestWeForget #GrandmaWong #PoliceState

Source: #FirstHand, Stand News; #Nov8
https://www.facebook.com/710476795704610/posts/4718694691549447/
#AnimalRights #PoliceState
Hong Kong Govenment Order to "Catch and Kill" Wild Boars, Sparking Outcry from Citizens and Animal Rights Groups

On November 9, 2021, an auxiliary police officer in Hong Kong was said being bitten by a wild pig in North Point. The boar was later found fell to its death from a 10-meter high ground.

On November 12, 2021, the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (#AFCD) immediately announced a "catch-and-kill" policy to euthanise wild boars that enter urban areas.

Eight animal rights group quickly launched a signature campaign titled "Wild boars are innocent. Do Not vent your hatred and anger at animals," urging the authorities to scrap the "catch-and-kill" policy.

One of the concern groups issued an open to Sophia Chan Siu-chee, Secretary for Food and Health and Leung Siu-fai, Director of AFCD.

In the letter, the group pointed out that boars are wild animals indigenous to Hong Kong. "They are living creatures with conscious and thoughts and should be respected."

The group criticized the authorities for disregarding the wild boars' rights to live in urban areas, calling the "catch-and-kill" policy utterly unreasonable.

In less then one day, the campaign received more than 30,000 signatures.

Source: InmediaHK; #Nov14
https://bit.ly/3CbGVAZ

#AnimalCruelty #FailedState #WildBoars #Death
#RuleByLaw
Hong Kong pro-democracy defendants face much heavier sentences than before 2019 protests

Since outbreak of the anti-ELAB movement in Hong Kong in 2019, over 2,000 citizens have been convicted for their involvement in pro-democracy protests.

Stand News, a local newspaper consolidated relevant public data from June 2019 through November 2021, which showed a total of 34 people being charged over "behaving in disorderly manner in public places".

Among them, 8 (24%) were accused of obstructing road; another 8 (24%) being charged over hurling objects, while the remaining 18 (52%) were found guilty for making noises (swearling, chanting protest slogans, or hurling insults at Hong Kong Police).  These cases saw a high conviction rate exceeding 60%.

With regards to sentencing, a large proportion of nearly 60% (12 people) of those being convicted were imprisoned for a period ranging from 3 weeks to 7 months. 

Another 5% of the defendants were sent to the Correctional Services' training centers. The rest faced lighter penalties such as signing bind-over orders for conduct and probation (14%); and community service orders (24%).

In comparison, most convicts in cases of similar nature in the past were not sentenced to jail.

A legal professional group in Hong Kong explained that in the past, only some defendants with criminal records would likely be put behind bars.

However, in recent cases, even first offenders are often imprisoned.

The group added that this showed the court's intention to deploy heavier penalties against defendants from the pro-democracy movement, particularly for cases under Public Order Ordinance, as deterrence.

#RuleofLaw #RuleByLaw #PoliceState #FailedState

Source: Stand News, #Nov14
https://thestandnews.page.link/kZ66FKVG9sBLL9pA6
Greta Thunberg Has a Message for Jailed Hong Kong Activist Joshua Wong

The Swedish climate campaigner #GretaThunberg has written imprisoned Hong Kong activist #JoshuaWong a letter, in an effort to draw attention to the detention of the protest leader in Hong Kong.

"You are a big hero, we are with you always,” Thunberg's letter reads. “Stay strong and never give up. You are never alone. I really hope that we will be able to meet one day.”

#Save47 #PrisonerRights #PoliceState #HKProtest

Sources: Stand News, #Dec2; Vice, #Nov30 https://thestandnews.page.link/RQ6mMpQ6b1BechAz7
#LegCoElection
Five Overseas Hongkongers including #NathanLaw wanted by HK Authorities Over #BlankVotes and #NoVote 'Incitement'

In Hong Kong, the Independent Commission Against Corruption (#ICAC) issued a warrant on December 18, 2021 to arrest five exiled activists, including Nathan Law Kwun-chung, for inciting voters to cast blank or invalid ballots in the Legislative Council election on December 19, 2021.

Apart from former lawmaker Law, four others, including Sunny Cheung Kwan-yang; and former district councilors Timothy Lee Hin-long, Lee Ka-wai, and Carmen Lau Ka-man are also wanted persons.  

Source: Stand News, #Dec18

https://bit.ly/3GUhh6t

#Regime #FakeElection #PoliceState #CCPStyle #FailedState
#PoliceState #LegCoElection
HK Police Intimidates Reporter and Warns of "Loitering" Charges in Polling Station

On December 19, 2021, the Legislative Council Election took place in Hong Kong, after being postponed by the authorities for over a year.

In the Tin Sui polling station in Tin Shui Wai, very few voters turned up, unlike the long queue and the crowd during the Pro-democracy Primary Election in the summer of 2020.

Back then, the average waiting time of the polling station is one hour where the queue always consists of several hundreds of citizens.

In the 2021 LegCo Election, there were at least 4 uniform police patrolling the area. An InMedia reporter was confronted by the patrolling officers outside and the police inside the polling station.

Not that the police recorded the personal details of the reporter, an officer accused the reporter of being a "fake reporter." "Never heard of InMedia. Who is your boss?" the police said.

The police ordered the reporter to show the photos that were taken. The police also claimed that they have already arrested some people who took photos in other polling station for "loitering".

In another polling station in Wanchai, the police forbade a InMedia reporter from conducting interview in the unrestricted area outside the polling station. The police claimed that "only iCable and another outlet" can cover the election news.

Source: InMedia #Dec19
https://bit.ly/321XJyx

https://bit.ly/3EbtYZ5

#PressFreedom #InMedia
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#StandNews Thanks Hongkongers for Their Support Despite Political Oppression

On December 29, 2021, Stand News has announced ceasing their operations and laying off all staff immediately after the police arrested a number of current and former management staff and freezing their assets.

The 7 arrested are the former and acting editors-in-chief of Stand News, Chung Pui-kuen and Patrick Lam, four former board members – singer Denise Ho, barrister Margaret Ng, Christine Fang and Chow Tat-chi – and former Apple Daily executive Chan Pui-man, a former contributor.

Deputy assignment editor Ronson Chan briefly spoke to reporters as was leaving the Stand News office around 5pm. With tears in his eyes, he called it a "sad day", and thanked readers for their support.

Read more:
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/31751

Source: Citizen News #Dec29

#Media #PoliticalOppression #PressFreedom #Regime #Arrest #PoliceState #PoliticalProsecution
Pro-democracy Hong Kong Singer #DeniseHo Arrested by National Secutity Police: I feel Alright

On December 29, 2021, the National Security Police in Hong Kong arrested singer #DeniseHo and 5 other current and former #StandNews senior personnel.

The authorities accused them of "conspiring to publish seditious publications."

Through the administrator of her facrbook page, after the arrest Denise Ho told Hongkongers, "I feel alright. To those who care about me, please don’t be worried."

Source: Yseedsmedia #Dec29

#HOCC #Media #PoliceState #Regime #Arrest

====
Related News:

Stand News: Operation ceased; social media accounts will be removed
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/31757

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

Hong Kong Authorities' #Crackdown on #StandNews
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/31752

#StandNews Thanks Hongkongers for Their Support Despite Political Oppression
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/31765
#Solidarity
Hongkongers Express Gratitude to #StandNews

[Editor's notes: The following open letter to Stand News was published by Liber Research, an independent research organization in Hong Kong with a focus on local studies. Liber Research expressed gratitude to Stand News in the past years for defending the freedom of the press and information in Hong Kong.

Stand News was forced to shut down on December 29, 2021 after the Hong Kong authorities arrested 7 current and former senior staff of the news outlet on the same day.]

"Thank you so much, Stand News, for reporting local news and publishing our studies over the years.

The articles, videos, news reports, webcasts, commentaries, investigative reports, and interviews of Stand News enabled our research to be covered every few days.

With the support of Stand News, our work has become all rounded.

Stand News never neglects the burning issues in Hong Kong society. Professional investigations, in-depth interviews, local sensitivity, topical issues, and reflective discussions had defintely made Stand News a legend despite difficult times.

The sudden closure of Stand News will make civic organisations lose their key dissemination platform, impacting on how social reality could be reflected in the long run.

Following the deterioration of the media freedom in Hong Kong this year, Hongkongers can see the changes of information dissemination.

It is quite certain that the closure of Stand News will further restrict information flow with regard to public issues, especially for critical studies. Room for publication with depth and breadth is diminishing.

Regardless, let us wish best of luck to all Stand News journalists. Let us treasure what's left and keep each other in company until the very end.

'As long as local opinions persist, no one can cover the sun with one finger.'"

Source: Liber Research #Dec29

#PressFreedom #Research #Regime #PoliceState