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The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal unanimously quashed on Thursday the convictions of opposition activists Chow Hang-tung, Tang Ngok-kwan and Tsui Hon-kwong of failing to comply with notice to provide information under Article 43 of the China-imposed National Security Law (NSL).
The legal dispute concerns the criminal element of section 3(3) in Schedule 5 of Implementation Rules for Article 43. The section requires a foreign agent to provide the requested information to the Commissioner of Police if they reasonably believe that the request is necessary for the prevention and investigation of an offense endangering national security. The issue here is whether the prosecution can rely on a heavily redacted investigation report to prove the offense.
Quashing the convictions, the court ruled that the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the subject person or organization was a “foreign agent.” The court found that the redactions undermined the prosecution’s case because there was no available information before the court that allowed it to determine if the defendants were foreign agents. This decision overruled the previous ruling that the prosecution only needed to prove that there was a reasonable suspicion that the subject person or organization is a foreign agent.
The court also held that the police’s claim to public interest immunity violated the defendants’ right to fair trial. The court reasoned that due to the redactions, the defendants were unable to know which foreign entities they were being accused of having interactions with. Therefore, the redactions have deprived the defendants of their right to a fair trial because the non-disclosure prevented them from raising a reasonable doubt.
The three defendants were former standing committee members of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. The group used to hold annual candlelight vigils to commemorate the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. Relatedly in January 2024, the same court reinstated Chow’s conviction of inciting others to participate in an unauthorized assembly. The assembly in question was the vigil held on June 4, 2021.
In October 2021, the Chief Executive in Council disbanded the group because he was satisfied that the prohibition of operation was necessary in the interest of national security under section 360C of the Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance.
Chow has been in custody for more than three years since September 8, 2021. She will remain in custody for the pending prosecution of the charges of incitement to subvert state power under the 2020 NSL and sedition under the 2024 Safeguarding National Security Ordinance.
Even though the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that the detention of Chow is arbitrary in 2023, the government maintained that any statements intending to interfere with the due administration of justice amount to “criminal contempt of court” under common law. Here, the court reiterated that international conventions, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, continue to apply in Hong Kong.
The post Hong Kong top court acquits opposition activists national security data request convictions appeared first on JURIST - News.
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The legal dispute concerns the criminal element of section 3(3) in Schedule 5 of Implementation Rules for Article 43. The section requires a foreign agent to provide the requested information to the Commissioner of Police if they reasonably believe that the request is necessary for the prevention and investigation of an offense endangering national security. The issue here is whether the prosecution can rely on a heavily redacted investigation report to prove the offense.
Quashing the convictions, the court ruled that the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the subject person or organization was a “foreign agent.” The court found that the redactions undermined the prosecution’s case because there was no available information before the court that allowed it to determine if the defendants were foreign agents. This decision overruled the previous ruling that the prosecution only needed to prove that there was a reasonable suspicion that the subject person or organization is a foreign agent.
The court also held that the police’s claim to public interest immunity violated the defendants’ right to fair trial. The court reasoned that due to the redactions, the defendants were unable to know which foreign entities they were being accused of having interactions with. Therefore, the redactions have deprived the defendants of their right to a fair trial because the non-disclosure prevented them from raising a reasonable doubt.
The three defendants were former standing committee members of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. The group used to hold annual candlelight vigils to commemorate the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown. Relatedly in January 2024, the same court reinstated Chow’s conviction of inciting others to participate in an unauthorized assembly. The assembly in question was the vigil held on June 4, 2021.
In October 2021, the Chief Executive in Council disbanded the group because he was satisfied that the prohibition of operation was necessary in the interest of national security under section 360C of the Companies (Winding Up and Miscellaneous Provisions) Ordinance.
Chow has been in custody for more than three years since September 8, 2021. She will remain in custody for the pending prosecution of the charges of incitement to subvert state power under the 2020 NSL and sedition under the 2024 Safeguarding National Security Ordinance.
Even though the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that the detention of Chow is arbitrary in 2023, the government maintained that any statements intending to interfere with the due administration of justice amount to “criminal contempt of court” under common law. Here, the court reiterated that international conventions, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, continue to apply in Hong Kong.
The post Hong Kong top court acquits opposition activists national security data request convictions appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.