Hong Kong’s top court has acquitted the first person jailed for carrying zip ties after ruling that the law did not warrant convicting someone simply for possessing an item with a criminal intent, as doing so amounted to penalising “thought crimes”.

Laying down the landmark ruling, five Court of Final Appeal judges on Friday unanimously acquitted property agent Chan Chun-kit, 35, who was jailed for carrying the plastic fasteners during an anti-government protest in 2019.

The ruling drew to a close a court debate on whether an 1845 provision initially enacted to prevent specific crimes could be a catch-all clause enabling those found to be carrying items with ill intent to be charged.