Hong Kong Student Sentenced to Two Months in Prison for Promoting “Hong Kong Independence”
A Hong Kong student studying in Japan has been sentenced to two months in prison by the Hong Kong National Security Police for publishing online posts promoting “Hong Kong independence.” The 23-year-old girl, Yuan Jingting, pleaded guilty to committing acts with seditious intent under the Crimes Ordinance. The Chief Magistrate of Hong Kong, So Wai-tak, presided over the trial and expressed concerns about the defendant’s ignorance of the law and failure to delete the posts after being prosecuted.
Most of the posts involved in the case were not published in Hong Kong but were still accessible to the public. The Hong Kong National Security Police arrested Yuan in March of this year on suspicion of inciting separatism, making it the first case of extraterritorial application of China’s Hong Kong National Security Law.
In response to the case, bipartisan members of the U.S. House of Representatives introduced the Hong Kong Sanctions Act, which proposes sanctions against 49 Hong Kong officials involved in implementing the National Security Law. The bill includes Chief Magistrate Su Huide, the Chief Judge of the Court of Final Appeal of the SAR, and the Secretary for Justice of the SAR government. U.S. lawmakers hope that this bill will support the freedom-loving people of Hong Kong and hold officials who violate human rights accountable.
The Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China in Hong Kong, the Hong Kong SAR Judiciary, and the Hong Kong SAR Government have condemned the actions of the U.S. lawmakers, describing them as attempts to intimidate SAR personnel who maintain national security.
Yuan’s identity was initially undisclosed by the Hong Kong National Security Police until Professor Aguchiko from the University of Tokyo revealed her arrest. Professor Aguchiko commented that the two-month sentence was excessively harsh and expressed concern for international students who study abroad, as even their social media posts are monitored.
During the trial, it was revealed that Yuan published 13 inflammatory remarks on Facebook and Instagram between September 2018 and May 2022. Four posts were made before the enactment of the National Security Law and were intended to cause hatred or contempt for the Chinese and Hong Kong governments. The other nine posts, made after the National Security Law came into effect, aimed to provoke Hong Kong residents to take action against legally enacted matters.
The court acknowledged that Yuan had a small number of posts and a relatively low frequency. The contents of her posts were not highly original but merely slogans. However, the magistrate believed that the continuity and permanence of her behavior and the use of the “Hong Kong independence” proposition in Japanese could subtly incite ignorant individuals. Taking into account her guilty plea, Yuan was sentenced to two months in prison.
Yuan is a non-Japanese citizen studying at a university in Japan. Professor Aguchiko criticized the Japanese government, universities, and society for not taking the issue seriously. He claimed that Japanese law recognizes freedom of speech and that the government and judicial departments would not interfere with the contents of museum exhibitions, unless they defamed reputation or encouraged discrimination. Professor Aguchiko called for a strong protest against the ruling.