iPhone | iPad
Android
Huawei
Devices modified by Israel at production, Lebanon security sources say
KT APPDOWNLOAD
Hong Kong man faces jail for sporting 'seditious' T-shirt
Chu Kai-pong already served a three-month prison term for sedition in January for wearing and keeping in his luggage clothes and flags with protest slogans
Protesters show banners "Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of our times," and "Hong Kong Independence" at a shopping mall during a protest in Hong Kong, on June 9, 2020. Hong Kong enacted a tougher national security law in March, the second legislation of its kind following the one imposed by Beijing in mid-2020 after quashing the protests. AP File
A 27-year-old man faces up to several years in jail for sedition, after pleading guilty on Monday to wearing a protest T-shirt that prosecutors say flouts Hong Kong's new national security law.
Chu Kai-pong had already served a three-month prison term for sedition in January for wearing and keeping in his luggage clothes and flags with protest slogans.
On Monday, he pleaded guilty to one count of "doing acts with seditious intent", leading to the city's first conviction under the new tougher law.
One of the slogans on the clothing, "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times", had been found to be "capable of inciting secession" in a separate court case.
Chu was arrested for wearing a T-shirt with the offending slogan and a mask bearing protest phrases on June 12 — a date associated with the huge and sometimes violent democracy protests in 2019.
Chu told police he believed the slogan called for the return of Hong Kong to British rule, the court heard, and he chose the outfit in order to remind the public of the 2019 protests when the phrase was widely used by pro-democracy demonstrators.
Convicting Chu following his guilty plea, chief magistrate Victor So added that two other offences of failing to produce an ID card and loitering were dropped.
Chu, who has been in custody for three months, will be sentenced on Thursday.
Hong Kong enacted a tougher national security law in March, the second legislation of its kind following the one imposed by Beijing in mid-2020 after quashing the protests.
The revised law beefed up the offence of sedition — a colonial-era offence — to include inciting hatred of China's communist leadership and upped its maximum jail sentence from two years to seven.
It also punishes five categories of crimes: treason, insurrection, sabotage, espionage and external interference.
Chu's lawyer argued that the maximum he could be given would be two years.
Sedition was created under British colonial rule, which ended in 1997, and was seldom used until Hong Kong authorities revived it in 2020 and charged more than 50 people and four companies.
Critics, including Western nations such as the United States, say the new security law would further erode freedoms and silence dissent in Hong Kong.
But authorities defended the law as necessary to fulfil a "constitutional responsibility", comparing it to a "reliable lock to prevent someone from breaking into (our) home".
As of last month, 301 people have been arrested under the two security laws, with 176 prosecuted and 157 convicted.
More news from World
Top US diplomat is visiting Egypt hoping to advance efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and strengthen ties with Cairo
A UNRWA official said the Israeli government is also 'increasingly phasing out representation from those engaged in reporting on the atrocities'
Of the 2.8 million private cars registered in the Scandinavian country, 754,303 are all-electric, compared to 753,905 that run on petrol
Months of behind-the-scenes negotiations mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the United States have failed to halt the fighting between Hamas and Israel, apart from a one-week truce beginning in late November
Modi's government has frequently deployed bulldozers and earthmovers to flatten property owned by those facing trial, saying it targets illegal construction and is a firm response to criminal activity
If approved, Oxford Street would join other major shopping hubs such as Times Square in New York and La Rambla in Barcelona that have gone fully traffic-free
