Sentence Handed Down in First HK Security Law Case

Waiter who carried banned flag gets 9 years
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jul 30, 2021 12:30 AM CDT
HK Protester Gets 9 Years in First Security Law Case
A prison van arrives as a police officer stands guard for Tong Ying-kit's arrival at the Hong Kong High Court in Hong Kong Friday, July 30, 2021.   (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

A pro-democracy protester was sentenced Friday to nine years in prison in the closely watched first case under Hong Kong’s national security law as Beijing tightens control over the territory. Tong Ying-kit was convicted Tuesday of inciting secession and terrorism for driving his motorcycle into a group of police officers during a July 1, 2020, rally—hours after the law was introduced. He carried a flag bearing the banned slogan, “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times,” the AP reports. Under the security law, he was denied bail and a jury trial. The judges said the 24-year-old restaurant worker's previous good character and the fact that he was his family's main breadwinner were not mitigating factors, the Hong Kong Free Press.

Tong's trial focused mainly on whether the "Liberate Hong Kong" slogan, widely used before the law was introduced, was a call for secession from China. Defense lawyer Clive Grossman said Tong had tried to avoid the officer but was distracted when one threw a shield at him, the New York Times reports. "A person who sets out to commit the act of terrorism by driving into people does not put his foot on the brake," he said. The conviction "is a significant and ominous moment for human rights in Hong Kong" and "underlines the sobering fact that expressing certain political opinions in the city is now officially a crime," Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific Regional Director Yamini Mishra in a statement after he was found guilty earlier this week, per the BBC.

(More Hong Kong stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X