In the 58th month since the Beijing-imposed national security law took effect in Hong Kong, the first batch of prominent democrats were released from prison after serving their jail terms following the city’s largest national security trial. Deviating from usual practice, the four democrats did not walk out of prison but left in private vehicles with curtains drawn before dawn, leaving them no opportunity to talk with the press.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Party, once the largest opposition party in the city’s legislature, moved closer to disbandment after its members approved the motion to mandate the central committee to proceed with disbanding procedures.
Four democrats released from jail
Four former pro-democracy lawmakers in Hong Kong have been released from prison after serving time for their involvement in an unofficial 2020 primary election. The four left the prisons in private vehicles without meeting any reporters awaiting outside the detention facilities.
Claudia Mo, Gary Fan, Jeremy Tam, and Kwok Ka-ki were the first group of 45 democrats to be discharged from prison in the early morning of Tuesday after being sentenced in the city’s largest national security trial, which concluded in November.
Mo was released from the Lo Wu Correctional Institution, while Fan left Lantau’s Shek Pik Prison. Tam and Kwok were discharged from Stanley Prison.
According to an HKFP journalist at the scene, the police barred the media from waiting for Fan at the main entrance of Shek Pik Prison. Members of the press had to wait on a bridge near Shek Pik Reservoir, overlooking the facility.
At 5.39am, a seven-seater vehicle left the prison, followed shortly by another private vehicle and a taxi. The private vehicles had curtains, with Fan believed to be in one of them.
The other three democrats left their respective detention facilities in the early hours of Tuesday under similar arrangements, according to local media reports.
The Correctional Services Department (CSD) defended the use of private vehicles for the release. In response to HKFP’s email, the department said on Tuesday that it would “make appropriate arrangements” for the release of prisoners based on factors such as the security and order of the prison, as well as the privacy and safety of the person in custody.
In a Facebook post on Tuesday, activist Figo Chan questioned why the democrats were escorted from prison to their homes, suggesting that the practice was unusual.
Jailed protesters appearing in gov’t films
Hong Kong prison authorities released two short films on protesters jailed in the wake of the 2019 pro-democracy protests and unrest in early April to promote “law-abiding awareness” among young people.
“Adapted from real cases, the microfilms feature stories of teenagers who were incited to commit illegal acts which endanger national security, and paid a heavy price in the end,” the Correctional Services Department (CSD) said in a press release on April 9.
The CSD showed one of the films for the first time during a seminar attended by students and teachers from 29 secondary schools on Wednesday, according to the press release.
The film, titled Momentary Glory, revolves around a young man jailed for nine years under the Beijing-imposed security law after driving past police lines on a motorcycle, according to local media reports.
It appears to be adapted from the case of Tong Ying-kit, who was sentenced to nine years behind bars in 2021 for inciting secession and committing terrorism.
In a separate video uploaded to the CSD’s YouTube channel, in which inmates’ faces are blurred, a man says that he was the inspiration for the short film. In the nearly three-minute footage, he also says that he regrets his actions, which led him to be jailed under the national security law.
86% of national security cases concluded
Most of the cases related to the 2019 anti-government protests and national security have been finalised by Hong Kong courts, according to the Judiciary.
As of February, the city’s courts had concluded around 96 per cent of more than 2,350 protest-related cases and about 86 per cent of over 230 national security cases, the Judiciary said in a document submitted to the Legislative Council’s Finance Committee on April 7.
With the majority of the remaining protest and national security cases scheduled for trial this year, “gradual and more substantial improvements to the court waiting times are anticipated” in the coming years, the Judiciary also said.
Democratic Party: No alternative but to disband
Hong Kong’s Democratic Party chairperson Lo Kin-hei has said that there is no alternative but to dissolve the opposition party.
Appearing on a talk show hosted by former Democratic Party chairperson Emily Lau on April 22, Lo said that the party had originally hoped to continue its work after it elected its central committee in December.
At the time, the combination of factors it had to consider in determining whether to continue was still “stable,” Lo said. “But some situations came up, and we could all see that the balance had shifted, and we were forced to make this choice.”
Lo spoke more than a week after the party passed a motion bringing it closer to disbandment, following reports that Chinese officials warned its senior members to shut down the 30-year-old opposition party before the upcoming legislative elections.
On April 13, party members approved a motion to mandate its central committee to proceed with disbanding procedures in mid April.
Man jailed for 145 ‘seditious’ comments online
A 57-year-old Hong Kong man was jailed in early April for one year over posting seditious comments on three social media platforms under the city’s homegrown security law.
On April 8, Chow Kim-ho, a former member of the pro-democracy group League of Social Democrats, pleaded guilty to one count of “knowingly publishing publications that had a seditious intention” under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, known locally as Article 23.
He admitted to publishing 145 seditious comments on social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, and Threads between March and November last year.
Man jailed for ‘seditious’ graffiti
A Hong Kong man who wrote slogans related to Taiwanese independence and the Chinese Communist Party was jailed for 10 months for criminal damage and sedition under the city’s homegrown security law, Article 23.
Ernest Lee pleaded guilty at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts to the offences on April 1, according to court news outlet The Witness.
He stood accused of “destroying” lift doors and banners in multiple locations, including pedestrian bridges in Wan Chai and Causeway Bay, between May and December last year. He wrote slogans in Chinese like “Taiwan independence,” a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping as Winnie the Pooh, and claims that the Chinese Communist Party had brought “disaster” upon Hong Kong, the prosecution said.
Police question fugitive activist’s parents
Hong Kong’s national security police took in the parents of wanted US-based activist Frances Hui for questioning on April 8.
Citing sources, local media reported that the police force’s National Security Department took away Hui’s parents to assist with an investigation.
Hui’s mother was seen exiting Tin Sum Police Station in Sha Tin at around 11.30am that day. Her father was taken to Ma On Shan Police Station, according to media reports.
National security police reportedly first took in the mother for questioning a week after they issued an arrest warrant and placed a HK$1 million bounty on her daughter’s head on December 14, 2023.
Hui was the first high-profile Hong Kong activist to be granted political asylum in the US. Now a policy and advocacy coordinator at The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, she is accused of colluding with foreign forces.
She is among 19 people wanted by the Hong Kong government on suspicion of committing national security offences.
Australian judge resigns
Australian justice Robert French resigned in late March from Hong Kong’s top court, saying the role of overseas non-permanent judges at the Court of Final Appeal (CFA) has become “increasingly anachronistic and arguably cosmetic.”
In a statement released on April 11, a Hong Kong government spokesperson “expressed regret” at French’s resignation from the CFA. His term was originally set to end in May 2026 after it was extended for three years in 2023.
In response to media enquiries, French said it was “with regret” that he tendered his resignation on March 31.
“I do observe that the role of the non-permanent justices on the Court of Final Appeal has become increasingly anachronistic and arguably cosmetic,” he said.
6 officials sanctioned
Hong Kong slammed the United States for placing sanctions on six local and Chinese officials for their involvement in what Washington calls “transnational repression” and the implementation of the Beijing-imposed national security law.
In a statement released in the early hours on April 1, the Hong Kong government said it “strongly condemns” the US for imposing sanctions on outgoing Commissioner of Police Raymond Siu, Secretary for Justice Paul Lam, and four other officials involved in national security.
The list also included two other senior police officials: assistant commissioners Margaret Chiu and Dick Wong.
Sonny Au, head of Hong Kong’s Committee for Safeguarding National Security, and Dong Jingwei, a Beijing official appointed to oversee the city’s national security affairs, were on the list as well.
Hong Kong union laws amendments go to LegCo
Amendments to Hong Kong’s trade union laws proposing jail terms of up to three years for national security infractions were introduced to the “patriots only” Legislative Council (LegCo) on Wednesday.
The amendments to the Trade Unions (Amendment) Bill 2025 were previously gazetted on April 17.
The government proposed legislative amendments in February to permanently bar those convicted of national security offences from serving in labour unions and to require all foreign funding to be vetted by the authorities.
Activist rejected from appealing for lighter sentence
A Hong Kong court blocked an independence activist jailed under the national security law from appealing for a shorter sentence on April 15.
The Court of Appeal denied Joseph John, also known as Wong Kin-chung, permission to challenge his five-year jail term.
The activist was the leader of the now-dissolved Hong Kong Independence Party, which was based and registered in the UK until its disbandment in 2022.
Artistic creation not affected, police chief says
Hong Kong’s national security legislation does not affect artistic creation, the city’s new police chief said in early April, days after giving a warning of “soft resistance” in the media, arts and culture sectors.
Many artists or performers understand the “boundaries of the law” and would not get involved in national security issues, Commissioner of Police Joe Chow said in an interview with local media published on April 7.
During the interview with local media outlets, including Ming Pao, HK01, Sing Tao, and Ta Kung Pao, Chow was asked how he would ensure law enforcement would not affect cultural activities, or cause a “chilling effect” on international artistic exchanges.
At his first press conference as the city’s new police commissioner on April 2, he warned of “soft resistance” and said that many people still wished to “incite others through the media, arts and culture sectors.”
