Hong Kong police have arrested a woman on suspicion of sharing test papers from the city’s university entrance examination online. The documents were leaked on Chinese social networking site Xiaohongshu, local media reported. A HKDSE examination hall. File photo: GovHK. A 23-year-old woman surnamed Lau was detained on Wednesday for allegedly breaching the Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority Ordinance, police said in a statement on Thursday. She was granted bail pending investigation and must report to the force in mid-May. The Hong Kong Examinations and Assessment Authority (HKEAA ..read more

Jimmy Lai had mentioned in late November 2019 the idea of conducting a primary poll to “continue the momentum” of the pro-democracy camp in a legislative race originally scheduled for 2020, an activist has told the media tycoon’s landmark national security trial. In this photo taken on June 16, 2020, Hong kong pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai, 72, poses during an interview with AFP at the Next Digital offices in Hong Kong. Photo: Anthony Wallace/AFP. The Apple Daily founder said organising a primary election could unite the votes of pro-democracy electors and secure the legislative seats o ..read more

A Hong Kong court has refused three activists’ applications to challenge their convictions over refusing to comply with a data request from national security police at the city’s top court. Chow Hang-tung. Photo: Candice Chau/HKFP. Chow Hang-tung, a human rights lawyer and the former vice-chair of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements, the group that once organised the city’s annual candlelight vigils in remembrance of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, represented herself in court on Wednesday. Chow appeared before High Court Judge Anna Lai along with former All ..read more

A team established to rebut criticism of Hong Kong’s new security law will continue to operate, the government has said, citing continued “misinformation and slanders from time to time.” In a written response to questions raised by pro-Beijing lawmaker Starry Lee, the Security Bureau said there remained a “need for the continued operation of the ‘Response and Rebuttal Team’.” Secretary for Security Chris Tang attends a carnival featuring booths about national security and showcasing police’s armoured vehicles at Victoria Park, Causeway Bay, on April 15, 2024 as part of the activities of Natio ..read more

Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai wanted to “lead” protesters in 2019 amid concerns that the violent actions of “radicals” would threaten the movement’s international support, an activist has testified during the Apple Daily founder’s national security trial. West Kowloon Law Courts Building. Photo: Candice Chau/HKFP. Paralegal Chan Tsz-wah, who stands accused alongside Lai and is now testifying against him, said on Tuesday that the media mogul hoped to set up a leadership group to re-orient radical protesters in 2019. Lai hoped to establish peaceful, non-violent actions as the primary mode of ..read more

A Hong Kong court has rejected media mogul Jimmy Lai’s challenge against a national security committee’s decision to bar a British lawyer from taking part in his ongoing security trial. High Court. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Three Court of Appeal judges on Tuesday dismissed Lai’s appeal against the decision of the Committee for Safeguarding National Security. The committee was empowered to make a decision barring the mogul’s lawyer, King’s Counsel Timothy Owen, from representing him at his national security trial, after Beijing issued its first-ever interpretation of the security law at Hong ..read more

A routine UK government report on Hong Kong that described the city as being on a “negative trajectory” has been met with condemnation from authorities over what they called “wanton slander and political attacks.” A Chinese national flag and a HKSAR flag in Hong Kong. Photo: GovHK. The latest six-monthly report, published on Monday, details political, judicial and constitutional developments in Hong Kong from July through December 2023. According to the UK government, the reports reflect a “commitment to the faithful implementation of the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration,” a treaty between ..read more

A Hong Kong man who tried to flee to Taiwan while facing a charge linked to the 2019 protests has been jailed for three years and 10 months, after he pleaded guilty to a petrol bomb plot and perverting the course of justice. Tang Kai-yin on August 23, 2023. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. District Judge Ernest Lin put defendant Tang Kai-yin behind bars on Tuesday, almost eight months after the 34-year-old finished serving a three-year sentence in mainland China, local media reported. He was among 12 Hongkongers intercepted by Chinese coastguards in August 2020, when they attempted to escape t ..read more

Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai hoped to contact protesters leading the “valiant camp” during the 2019 unrest and “purify” them, out of concerns they would lose the pro-democracy movement international support, an activist has testified during Lai’s landmark national security trial. Jimmy Lai. File photo: Kelly Ho/HKFP. Paralegal Chan Tsz-wah, who stands accused of conspiring with Lai and others to collude with foreign forces, continued his testimony for the prosecution on Monday. Lai, 76, is on trial for two counts of conspiring to collude with foreign forces and one count of conspiring to ..read more

Five Hongkongers who were charged with loitering at a chain store linked to the city’s largest national security case have been acquitted after the judge issued good behaviour orders. West Kowloon Law Courts Building. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Ip Ka-kin, Ip Tsz-kin, Tsang Wai-shing and two defendants who were unnamed as they were minors appeared at West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on Friday for the fourth day of their trial after pleading not guilty to “loitering causing concern.” The case relates to incidents last February, when the defendants were accused of shouting and harassing customer ..read more