#NationalSecurityLaw
Agnes Chow Released on Bail: Hope HKgers Can Persist

2315 | Tai Po Police Station
Agnes Chow stated that she was released on bail of HKD$180,000 as surety and HKD$20,000 in cash. She needs to report to Police station on September 1 and her passport has been confiscated.

She reckoned that the police arrested her on speech crimes, which is absurd and an act of political suppression. She said that police searched every corner of her house without specifically pointing out the reasons of her arrest. The police also failed to indicate which post Chow made on the social media was connected to the allegations.

Despite being arrested 4 times, she said she felt the most scared this time. Thanks to the support she received from many Hongkongers, she hopes that everyone will persist.

Source: Stand News
#Aug11 #AgnesChow #FreeAgnes #SpeechCrime #FreedomOfSpeech

#University #LennonWall #WhiteTerror #NationalSecurityLaw
University Authoritites Censor Opinion Boards on Campus

Ever since the National Security Law came into force in HK on 30 June 2020, red lines were imposed everywhere. At universities, "Democracy Wall" and Lennon Wall, where people express their opinions, have been a symbol of free speech but were “sanitized” by the university authorities.

At University of Hong Kong, pro-indepedence wordings were removed. The students’ union cited the university management that any mention of “HK Independence” or “expelling Chinese Communists” would no longer be allowed on campus.

The HK University of Science and Technology even forbids blank post-it notes on notice boards. A Students' Union member lamented that not only on campus but in all Hong Kong there is no room to express oneself freely, "One might risk breaching the [national security] law even by not speaking.”

Source: Apple Daily #Aug29
https://t.co/j1OjR2cCsb

#FreedomofSpeech #FailedState

#Censorship #YingEChi
Independent filmmakers: Film inspection authority stalls reviewing process and shutters anti-ELAB movement DVD submitted for inspection

“Inside the Red Brick Wall”, a documentary directed by filmmakers of HK Documentary Initiative was released on September 21 at the Hong Kong Arts Center. The film, centered on the siege of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, has captured one of the most intense confrontations between pro-democracy protesters and HK police during the year-long anti-ELAB movement in 2019.

When receiving the long-overdue Certificate of Approval, Ying E Chi Cinema was stunned to find the DVD of “Inside the Red Brick Wall” it submitted for inspection was “utterly shattered”.

When being asked, a staff member of OFNAA (Office for Film, Newspaper and Article Administration) claimed that they had “accidentally'' damaged it during reviewing process. Ying E Chi Cinema stated on its Facebook that “it had never occurred in almost 20 years since our establishment”.

Source: Apple Daily #Sept22
#WhiteTerror #FailedState #FreedomOfSpeech #HongKongCinema #IndieCinema

Read how the negotiation between Ying E Chi cinema and the OFNAA unfolds on the cinema’s Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=3063984707040934&id=261128170659949

Related article: Hong Kong Authorities Accuse Protest Documentaries of "Constituting Criminal Offences"
https://publielectoral.lat/guardiansofhongkong/25426

University of Hong Kong Removes #Save12HKYouths Posters

The pro-democracy Safeguard HKU Concern Group has been hanging posters on campus since Sept 22, 2020, calling on university students and staff to voice support for the 12 Hongkongers captured and detained in China.

After midnight on September 24, the university management removed all relevant posters and materials within less than 2 days. These include a gigantic poster originally on display outside Exit A2 of the University of Hong Kong subway station.

Source: HKU Campus TV #Sept24
#FreedomOfSpeech #HKU

'City Forum’ going off air after broadcasting for 41 years; "Uncles of Victoria Park" may become history

Sources say that the RTHK programme "City Forum" has been discontinued. The programme is currently on its annual summer break; while it would resume in the second week of September in previous years, RTHK will not be bringing it back this year.

Responding to inquiries, RTHK says that its programming and personnel arrangements are internal matters, and declines to comment. Citing its charter, RTHK emphasizes that it has editorial independence.

City Forum was launched on 13th April, 1980, and had been well received by the public duing its 41-year run. It was usually hosted in Victoria Park, and allows time for attending citizens to take the mic to voice their opinions. Some attendees spoke particularly intensely and had caught the attention of the local press, who affectionately referred to them as "uncles of Victoria Park" and "brothers of Victoria Park".

According to the RTHK website, the programme aims to encourage freedom of speech, reflect public opinion, and provide an open space for citizens to voice their ideas. Topics discussed at the forum covers a wide range of topics in Hong Kong, including livelihood issues, culture, education, finance, the legal system, and many more. The website says that it aims to continue bringing together public opinions "like many streams forming a great river."

#RTHK #CityForum #SpeakersCorner #FreedomOfSpeech

Source: Stand News; #Sept4
https://thestandnews.page.link/m7YzXZBTayXgw9tA7

#Academia #Oppression #FreedomOfSpeech #University
Lingnan University Terminates Adjunct Appointment of 2 Outspoken Professors

In response to inquiries by Stand News, the Hong Kong Lingnan University (#HKLU) indicated the adjunct appointment of Law Wing-Sang and Hui Po-Keung have ended in September 2021, and their names have been removed from the school website's list of faculty members. They were professors of Cultural Studies.

The university did not mention the reason for not renewing their contracts.

Law and Hui are scholars active in pro-democracy protest movements, commenting often on current affairs. At the beginning of the 2014 Umbrella Movement, after the police fired tear gas on the gathering crowds, the two publicly condemned the government's actions and went on strike as teachers.

Hui is also a trustee of the “612 Humanitarian Relief Fund”, a fund supporting those injured or arrested during the Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill Movement.

After the implement of National Security Law, Law continued to comment on newspapers. He published an opinion piece in MingPao on September 3, 2021, saying that the implementation of the National Security Law had 'perfected' Hong Kong's democratic 'election' system overnight. It also put an end to the ongoing controversy over the pace of democratization since the city's “return to China”: “Hong Kong strides into the era of “authoritarian rule”.

Source: Stand News; #Sept30
https://www.thestandnews.com/society/a_%E5%B6%BA%E5%A4%A7%E8%88%87%E7%BE%85%E6%B0%B8%E7%94%9F%E8%A8%B1%E5%AF%B6%E5%BC%B7%E5%90%88%E7%B4%84%E7%B5%82%E7%B5%90-%E6%95%99%E8%81%B7%E5%93%A1%E5%90%8D%E5%96%AE%E5%B7%B2%E9%99%A4%E5%90%8D

#LingnanUniversity #HongKong #TearGas #NationalSecurityLaw #Censorship #Professor #LawWingSang #HuiPoKeung

#PoliticalOppression #PressFreedom
2021 marks a sad milestone for Journalists in HK : Committee to Protect Journalists

In the Committee to Protect Journalists (#CPJ) annual report 2021, it revealed that the number of journalists jailed around the world had set another record in 2021, with #China remains the world’s worst jailer of journalists for the third year in a row, with 50 behind bars. 

As for Hong Kong, it said that 2021 "marked a sad milestone".

"For the first time journalists in the former British colony appear on CPJ’s annual survey of journalists unjustly imprisoned for their work. Eight. Zero to eight in one year."

READ FULL ARTICLE:
https://cpj.org/2021/12/hong-kongs-sad-media-milestone/

RELATED ARTICLE:
https://cpj.org/2021/12/attacks-on-the-press-in-2021/

The number of reporters jailed for their work hit a new global record of 293 in CPJ’s 2021 prison census, up from a revised total of 280 in 2020. Also so far in 2021, at least 24 journalists were killed as a result of their coverage.

#NationalSecurityLaw #FreedomOfSpeech #PressFreedom #JimmyLai #AppleDaily

Source : Committee to Protect Journalists; #Dec9

"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://publielectoral.lat/BeWaterHK/392

#Art #FreedomOfSpeech #NationalSecurityLaw #Sedition

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

Hong Kong Civil Servants Arrested for "Seditious" Social Media Posts

On Aug 9, national security police arrested 4 men, two of whom are civil servants, for allegedly publishing seditious posts online, Hong Kong Police said. 

Sources claim that the two civil servants are the administrators for the "Civil Servants Secrets" Facebook page, which publishes stories submitted anonymously by civil servants of the city.  The relevant Facebook page and Instagram are both currently down.

Police said that the two, aged 28 and 29, published seditious posts that "promoted feelings of hostility between different classes of the city's population".

Police had further investigated 5 other men, two of whom were arrested for allegedly committing fraud.  Police searched their homes and workplaces, and confiscated electronic communication devices.  Police said that the operation is ongoing, and there may be more arrests connected to the case.

Oscar Kwok, Head of the Hong Kong Civil Service College, spoke to reporters from HK01 last Friday that he reads the "Civil Servants Secrets" page to understand their feelings.  Kwok had served in the police force for 32 years, and said that he hopes the public - particularly the media - would speak more positively of civil servants and show gratitude for their work, so that they could be more motivated to serve the public.

A message from someone who claimed to have witnessed one of the arrests at a government office quickly circulated online.  The message said that police arrived at their office in large numbers, and the staff was told not to touch their computers.  Several computers were confiscated, including one that was said to contain very sensitive data.  The whole office was shocked. The source said: the managers looked sombre, and the rest of the staff kept their heads down as they quietly went back to work.

Source:
Channel C, HK01 #Aug09

https://bit.ly/3vQxSVQ

#CivilServants #Suppression #FreedomOfSpeech #NationalSecurityLaw
#FacebookPage #CivilServantSecret #Seditious

"Glory to Hong Kong 2023 Edition" Re-Released; Production Team Echoes Sentiments of "Not Wanting to Lose Freedom to Choose Music"

Hong Kong's protest anthem "Glory to Hong Kong" was suddenly taken offline across multiple streaming platforms after the government filed an injunction to ban the song earlier this month. At the time, the production team cited "technical issues" unrelated to the streaming platforms, not political reasons, as the cause for the takedown.

Within a week, the team has re-released a "2023 Edition" of the anthem on KKBox, Spotify, YouTube Music, and other platforms. The newer version is labeled "remastered" in the title. The melody and lyrics have remained unchanged.

Prior to the takedown, the anthem had taken over the top spots on multiple streaming services within 24 hours of the government's injunction filing. The song's unannounced disappearance was met with reactions of dismay by netizens, as well as anger at what appeared to be the streaming platforms bowing to government pressure to silence the song.

Dgxmusic, the team behind the anthem, responded to the public's concerns through a Facebook post, expressing that they understand the sentiment of "not wanting to lose even the freedom to choose music", and will strive to uphold this aspiration. They also "firmly oppose any attempts to restrict freedom of thought and speech."

The High Court has scheduled the hearing for the injunction on July 21.

Source: In-Media HK #Jun19

#GloryToHongKong #FreedomOfSpeech #Suppression