A man charged with sedition under Hong Kong’s homegrown security law has had his case adjourned again to May, as a top court verdict that the defence says could inform how his client pleads has still not been delivered.
Wearing a black windbreaker, Chow Kim-ho appeared at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court on Thursday. His supporters, including pro-democracy party League of Social Democrats (LSD) activist Tsang Kin-shing, waved at him as he entered the court room.
Chow was arrested last November on suspicion of sedition, an offence under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, better known in the city as Article 23. He has been held in custody since.
The part-time handyman – in his late 50s – stands accused of publishing seditious posts on Facebook, Instagram and Threads between March and November last year.
The content related to hatred of the Chinese Communist Party and Taiwan independence, among other topics, according to The Witness.
Steven Kwan, Chow’s lawyer, told the court that he would like a further adjournment because the Court of Final Appeal verdict for activist Tam Tak-chi’s case had not been handed down.
The lawyer had told the court in December that he wanted to wait for the verdict to be delivered as it could inform Chow’s decision to plead guilty or not guilty.
In January, the top court heard a landmark challenge from Tam, who was jailed for three years and four months in April 2022 over multiple offences including uttering seditious words and taking part in an unauthorised assembly. But there has been no date set yet for the verdict.
Tam was the first person charged under the sedition law since the city’s return from British to Chinese rule in 1997. When he was charged in September 2020, sedition fell under the colonial-era legislation and carried a maximum jail term of two years.
After Article 23 was passed, and came into effect, in March 2024, sedition was wrapped under the new security law. It now carries a maximum penalty of seven years behind bars, or 10 if the offender was found to have colluded with an “external force.”
Addressing the court on Thursday, Kwan said he was “too optimistic” when he estimated that Tam’s verdict would be delivered within a month after the top court hearing.
He told Chief Magistrate Victor So that once the verdict was handed down, he would inform the court within seven days how Chow would plead.
So adjourned the case to May 12, but said the court could reconvene earlier if the top court delivers its verdict sooner.
According to the Security Bureau in January, five people have been charged under Article 23, three of whom have been convicted.
All three of them were charged over sedition offences. They have already been jailed, with one person receiving a 10-month imprisonment term and the other two sentenced to 14 months.
Separate from the 2020 Beijing-enacted security law, the homegrown Safeguarding National Security Ordinance targets treason, insurrection, sabotage, external interference, sedition, theft of state secrets and espionage. It allows for pre-charge detention of up to 16 days, and suspects’ access to lawyers may be restricted, with penalties involving up to life in prison. Article 23 was shelved in 2003 amid mass protests, remaining taboo for years. But, on March 23, 2024, it was enacted having been fast-tracked and unanimously approved at the city’s opposition-free legislature.
The law has been criticised by rights NGOs, Western states and the UN as vague, broad and “regressive.” Authorities, however, cited perceived foreign interference and a constitutional duty to “close loopholes” after the 2019 protests and unrest.
Support HKFP | Policies & Ethics | Error/typo? | Contact Us | Newsletter | Transparency & Annual Report | Apps
Help safeguard press freedom & keep HKFP free for all readers by supporting our team
latest national security stories
