A Hong Kong political commentator has been remanded in custody after being charged with disclosing details of a national security investigation, marking the first time police have brought a prosecution over this offence.
Wong Kwok-ngon, known by his pen name Wong On-yin, appeared at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on Tuesday, three days after his arrest.
The 71-year-old was accused of divulging on YouTube details of enquiries made by police during a national security investigation.
The offence, dated Wednesday last week, falls under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, Hong Kong’s homegrown security law known as Article 23.
The offence was added to the ordinance in May as part of subsidiary legislation and had not been used to charge anybody until now.
Wong was also charged with sedition over “seditious” videos posted on YouTube between January 3 and December 6 this year, which the prosecution said were made with the intention to incite hatred against the central government and the city’s authorities.
The defendant, who represented himself, said he did not plan to hire a lawyer.
Wong was among those slated to appear at a civil society-led press conference on Tuesday last week about the fatal Wang Fuk Court fire.
The press conference was cancelled at the last minute after some of the speakers, including Wong and Bruce Liu, a solicitor and chair of the Association for Democracy and People’s Livelihood (ADPL), were taken in by national security police.
Speakers at the press conference had planned to discuss issues including building management problems and bid-rigging in the aftermath of the fire, which killed 160 people.
Victor So, a designated national security judge, denied Wong bail, saying he was not satisfied that the political commentator would not continue to endanger national security.
So adjourned the case by six weeks to January 20 after assistant director of public prosecutions Andy Lo said police needed more time to review around 2,400 videos, most of which were over 30 minutes long.
Police also seized 15 devices from Wong, including laptops and phones.
Both offences of disclosing details of a national security investigation and sedition are punishable by up to seven years’ imprisonment.
