It is a commonplace political observation that carelessly passed legislation often has unintended – and maybe ridiculous – effects. Our newly minted local legislators seem to have neglected this important warning. Inmates. File Photo: GovHK. We are all, these days, eager to secure national security. However, attempts to achieve this by jailing those convicted of national security offences for long periods have reached a curious position. Readers will recall that – under the national security law bestowed on us by Beijing – national security offences come, like Pacific Coffee, in three sizes ..read more

In the 46th month since Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong, the city held a raft of events to mark National Security Education Day. China’s top man on Hong Kong affairs urged it to prioritise economic development after the passage of a second security law. 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 National Security Education Day. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. City officials continued to defend the homegrown security law – known locally as Article 23 – sa ..read more

A prosecution witness in the national security trial of Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai has denied defence allegations that he had fabricated his court evidence in exchange for a shorter jail term after earlier lying to police. West Kowloon Law Courts Building. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Paralegal Chan Tsz-wah on Friday insisted he was telling the truth after the defence challenged his credibility as a witness and accused him of fabricating his testimony in order to favourably influence his own sentencing, which is expected after the trial. As the trial entered the 69th day, defence lawyer Ma ..read more

Hong Kong must improve communications to manage tourists’ expectations of fireworks displays, a tourism veteran has said after visitors from mainland China aired complaints about a scaled-down pyrotechnics display on Labour Day. It came as Hong Kong saw more than 181,000 arrivals from the mainland on the first day of the May 1 “golden week”. Hong Kong’s Labour Day fireworks display on May 1, 2024. Photo: Hong Kong Tourism Board. Timothy Chui, executive director of the Hong Kong Tourism Association, told RTHK that he was “pleasantly surprised” to know that some mainland tourists had ..read more

The Court of Appeal will hear an appeal by the Department of Justice (DoJ) in November, as they challenge an earlier decision to clear Democratic Party Lo Kin-hei of an unlawful assembly charge linked to the 2019 protests and unrest. According to the court diary, the case will be heard on November 20, with proceedings expected to last one day. Lo Kin-hei. File photo: Lo Kin-hei, via personal website. Following his acquittal by the District Court in November 2022, the DoJ launched a bid to appeal on December 5, 2022. Two days later, on December 7, Lo was re-arrested and brought to the High Cou ..read more

A Hong Kong court will hear an appeal from the head of the city’s largest journalist group Ronson Chan in November, more than a year after he was sentenced to five days in prison over obstructing a police officer while reporting. Hong Kong Journalists Association chairperson Ronson Chan outside the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on September 25, 2023. Photo: Hillary Leung/HKFP. Chan, the chair of the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA), is scheduled to challenge his conviction and sentencing at the High Court on November 19, according to the Judiciary’s website. The veteran journalist ..read more

A 37-year-old man, suspected to be linked to several burglaries at Lantau’s Sea Ranch, has died following a suspected blow to the head. The mainland man was found unconscious at the isolated resort’s pier in the early hours of Wednesday, police told HKFP on Thursday. Sea Ranch. File photo: Tom Grundy/HKFP. At 5:39am, a passer-by reported to police that a man was lying at Sea Ranch pier unconscious. He was sent to Cheung Chau’s hospital where he was later pronounced dead. Shortly afterwards, at 7:15am, police received a report about a Sea Ranch flat being ransacked, with HK$3,000 in cash and a ..read more

A Hong Kong court has upheld a lower judge’s decision that the city’s courts do not have jurisdiction over the national security committee, effectively barring media mogul Jimmy Lai from challenging the government after it forbid him from hiring a British lawyer for his trial. The High Court. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Three Court of Appeal judges sided with the High Court judge’s decision, per a written judgement published on Monday. Lai’s lawyer Philip Dykes had construed the relevant text in the national security law, as well as the interpretation Beijing issued in December 2022, in a “con ..read more

Hong Kong police have arrested a construction project manager on suspicion of manslaughter in connection with a fatal tower crane collapse in 2022 that left three workers dead. Police also listed a structural engineer as wanted in the case. The site of the industrial accident in Sau Mau Ping on Sept. 7, 2023. Photo: 建築業揸機手足 via Facebook. The deadly industrial incident on Anderson Road, Sau Mau Ping on September 7, 2022 was reclassified as manslaughter and a 35-year-old man was apprehended in Ngau Tau Kok on Tuesday in connection with the case, police said. “He is being detained by the Police ..read more

A radical group in Hong Kong spent over HK$100,000 to acquire around 100 petrol bombs per confrontation during the protests and unrest in 2019, a court has heard. High Court. File photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Prosecution witness Wong Chun-keung, leader of the group named “Dragon Slayers,” also testified on Monday that his group formed in August 2019 as a team of “elite” violent protesters which targeted the police during confrontations. Wong said they were financed by unidentified professionals such as lawyers, lawmakers, and journalists in the city. Seven people are standing trial at the High Court ..read more