Hong Kong police stated on Saturday that two individuals had been arrested for sedition below a brand new nationwide safety legislation, accusing them of spreading hatred in opposition to Chinese language and native authorities.
The arrests on Friday got here solely a day after the pro-democracy information outlet Stand Information and two former editors had been discovered responsible of sedition, the primary conviction of its type because the metropolis got here below Chinese language rule in 1997.
Critics say officers within the Chinese language finance hub have used the sedition offence, which has roots in British colonial rule, to focus on authorities critics and stifle dissent.
A person aged 41 and a 28-year-old lady had been arrested on Friday for committing “an act or acts that had a seditious intention” and remained in custody, police stated in a press release.
Hong Kong media stories stated the arrests had been made in connection to a observe extensively circulated on social media this week after a college professor was killed on railway tracks.
The writer expressed suicidal ideas on account of despair over Hong Kong’s future. AFP was unable to confirm the id of the one who wrote it.
Police stated the girl was suspected of “publishing fraudulent ‘final phrases’ of the deceased in relation to a latest suicide case”.
They stated the person was accused of inserting “memorial mild bins” in varied locations, with contents “scary hatred” of the governments in Beijing and Hong Kong, police stated.
The brand new nationwide safety legislation, handed in March and generally often known as Article 23, elevated the utmost jail time period for sedition from two years to seven.
It’s Hong Kong’s second nationwide safety legislation and follows the one imposed by Beijing in 2020 after large, typically violent pro-democracy protests a yr earlier.
These protests prompted a crackdown on free speech that has seen critics of China jailed or compelled into exile
The US and Britain are amongst vocal critics of the brand new legislation, which they are saying has curbed rights.
By August 1, 301 individuals had been arrested for nationwide safety crimes below varied legal guidelines.
The arrests on Friday got here solely a day after the pro-democracy information outlet Stand Information and two former editors had been discovered responsible of sedition, the primary conviction of its type because the metropolis got here below Chinese language rule in 1997.
Critics say officers within the Chinese language finance hub have used the sedition offence, which has roots in British colonial rule, to focus on authorities critics and stifle dissent.
A person aged 41 and a 28-year-old lady had been arrested on Friday for committing “an act or acts that had a seditious intention” and remained in custody, police stated in a press release.
Hong Kong media stories stated the arrests had been made in connection to a observe extensively circulated on social media this week after a college professor was killed on railway tracks.
The writer expressed suicidal ideas on account of despair over Hong Kong’s future. AFP was unable to confirm the id of the one who wrote it.
Police stated the girl was suspected of “publishing fraudulent ‘final phrases’ of the deceased in relation to a latest suicide case”.
They stated the person was accused of inserting “memorial mild bins” in varied locations, with contents “scary hatred” of the governments in Beijing and Hong Kong, police stated.
The brand new nationwide safety legislation, handed in March and generally often known as Article 23, elevated the utmost jail time period for sedition from two years to seven.
It’s Hong Kong’s second nationwide safety legislation and follows the one imposed by Beijing in 2020 after large, typically violent pro-democracy protests a yr earlier.
These protests prompted a crackdown on free speech that has seen critics of China jailed or compelled into exile
The US and Britain are amongst vocal critics of the brand new legislation, which they are saying has curbed rights.
By August 1, 301 individuals had been arrested for nationwide safety crimes below varied legal guidelines.
