Related Research Articles
Apple Daily was a newspaper published in Hong Kong from 1995 to 2021. Founded by Jimmy Lai, it was one of the best-selling Chinese language newspapers in Hong Kong. Along with entertainment magazine Next Magazine, Apple Daily was part of Next Digital. The paper published print and digital editions in Traditional Chinese, as well as a digital-only English edition. A sister publication of the same name remains operational online in Taiwan under a joint venture between Next Digital and other Taiwanese companies.
The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China was a pro-democracy organisation that was established on 21 May 1989 in the then British colony of Hong Kong during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre in Beijing. After the 4 June massacre, the organisation main goals were the rehabilitation of the democracy movement and the accountability for the massacre. The main activities the organisation held were the annual memorials and commemorations, of which the candlelight vigil in Victoria Park was the most attended, reported and discussed event each year. Due to its stance, the Central government in Beijing considers the organisation subversive.
Albert Ho Chun-yan is a solicitor and politician in Hong Kong. He is the former chairman (2014–2019) and vice-chair (2019–2021) of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, and former chairman of the Democratic Party from 2006 to 2012. He is a solicitor and a former member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong for District Council (Second) constituency.
Denise Ho Wan-see is a Hong Kong-based Cantopop singer and actress. She is also a pro-democracy and Hong Kong human rights activist. In 2012, Ho declared herself as a lesbian, being the first mainstream Cantonese singer to do so. In 2014, Ho was blacklisted by the Chinese government and by the luxury brand Lancome for her participation in the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong. Ho is a Canadian citizen.
The Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor (HKHRM) is a local non-governmental organisation which was established in April 1995. It aims to promote better human rights protection in Hong Kong.
The Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF) was an organisation that focused on the issues of Hong Kong politics and livelihood, affiliated with almost all pan-democratic camps in Hong Kong. It was founded on 13 September 2002 and disbanded on 15 August 2021.
Johannes Chan Man-mun (陳文敏) SC (Hon) is an Adjunct Professor, former Chair Professor of Law (–2021) and former Dean of the Faculty of Law (2002–2014) at the University of Hong Kong. He specialises in human rights, constitutional and administrative law, and is the first and only academic silk ever appointed in Hong Kong. He is credited with transforming the University's Faculty of Law into one of the leading law schools in the world during his tenure as Dean.
Joshua Wong Chi-fung is a Hong Kong activist and politician. He served as secretary-general of the pro-democracy party Demosistō until it disbanded following the implementation of the Hong Kong national security law on 30 June 2020. Wong was previously convenor and founder of the Hong Kong student activist group Scholarism. Wong first rose to international prominence during the 2014 Hong Kong protests, and his pivotal role in the Umbrella Movement resulted in his inclusion in TIME magazine's Most Influential Teens of 2014 and nomination for its 2014 Person of the Year; he was further called one of the "world's greatest leaders" by Fortune magazine in 2015, and nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2017.
Picking quarrels and provoking trouble is a crime under the law of the People's Republic of China.
Sirikan Charoensiri is a Thai human rights attorney. She works with Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) and is one of the legal representatives of the fourteen student activists from the New Democracy Movement (NDM). She has been the subject of harassment and threats from Thai authorities, as well as criminal charges related to her work as a human rights lawyer. She is the first Thai lawyer to have been charged with sedition by the military junta.
The Hong Kong national security law, officially the Law of the People's Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR), is a piece of national security legislation concerning Hong Kong. It was passed on 30 June 2020 by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress in the wake of intense pro-democracy/anti-government protests instigated by a bill proposed in 2019 to enable extradition to the mainland, and came into force the same day.
The month of August 2020 in the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests saw only sparse and relatively small protests, mainly due to the city going through a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic and an outdoor gathering ban on groups of more than two people. As the impact of the Hong Kong National Security Law on the city became increasingly evident, and additionally in response to acts by representatives of the local and mainland governments throughout the protests, Western democracies continued to voice sharp criticism and implemented sanctions against China, with the United States imposing sanctions on 11 Hong Kong officials on 7 August. These developments supported the opinion expressed by former British Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind in late June that the protests had morphed from a mostly local dispute into an international one.
On 6 September, the biggest protests in the course of the 2019-20 Hong Kong protests since 1 July occurred in the city. The fresh protests were in a large part due to the day having been the scheduled election day for the Legislative Council; on 31 July, the Hong Kong government had the elections postponed by a year, citing the COVID-19 pandemic, a justification that was widely doubted. The unauthorized protests resulted in nearly 300 arrests, one of them on suspected violation of the national security law, and brought the total number of arrests during the entire protests since June 2019 to above 10,000.
Figo Chan Ho-wun is a Hong Kong pro-democracy activist who served as convener of the Civil Human Rights Front from October 2020 until his conviction in May 2021 and then, de facto convener until the organisation's disband on 15 August 2021. As vice-convener of the organisation Chan and then convener Jimmy Sham Tsz-kit, planned major marches during the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests. In November 2019, Chan and Emily Lau were awarded the John McCain Prize for Leadership in Public Service on behalf of the people of Hong Kong during the Halifax International Security Forum. He also is member of the League of Social Democrats.
In a post on Chinese social media dated August 26, 2020, the China Coast Guard claimed that Guangdong authorities had intercepted a speedboat on August 23 under the suspicion of illegal border crossing, and that more than ten people had been detained. The released coordinates put the incident in the South China Sea, approximately 78 kilometres from Hong Kong Island. On August 27, The Guardian cited two Hong Kong news outlets which reported, based on unnamed sources, that in the incident, a total of 12 people had been detained en route to Taiwan, of whom at least ten were Hong Kong residents. Referring to the same sources, the passengers had included activist Andy Li, who had been arrested on August 10 under charges related to the national security law and released on bail. Hong Kong police chief Chris Tang told media on August 27 that he had heard the reports on the detention, and that the force was actively seeking information from the mainland authorities.
On 6 January 2021, 53 Hong Kong pro-democracy activists, former legislators, social workers and academics were arrested by the National Security Department of the Hong Kong Police Force under the national security law over their organisation and participation in the primaries for the subsequently postponed Legislative Council election, including six organisers and 47 participants, making it the largest crackdown under the national security law since its passage on 30 June 2020. The police also raided 72 places including the home of jailed activist Joshua Wong, the offices of news outlets Apple Daily, Stand News and InMedia HK and polling institute Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI), and froze more than $200,000 in funds related to the primaries. These were the most prominent politicians in the opposition camp that had been arrested by the authorities.
Luke John de Pulford is a human rights campaigner, particularly in the areas of modern slavery and human rights abuses in China. Luke is Director and Co-Founder of the London-based anti-slavery charity, Arise. He coordinates the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China which he founded with Baroness Kennedy, Iain Duncan Smith and political representatives from seven other democracies. Pulford convened the Coalition for Genocide Response, putting a focus on the Uyghur genocide. He sits as a Commissioner on the Conservative Party Human Rights Commission and advises the World Uyghur Congress.
Tonyee Chow Hang-tung is a Hong Kong activist, barrister and politician. During the crackdown by authorities on the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which began in June 2021 and was mainly based on national security charges over the Alliance's annual vigils in remembrance of the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre, Chow was cast into the limelight, having become the convenor of the group after the arrest of leaders Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho in April. In December 2021 and January 2022, Chow was convicted respectively for inciting and taking part in an unlawful assembly on occasion of the vigil in 2020, and for organizing the vigil in 2021, and sentenced to a total of 22 months in prison.
Two organizations considered to have been central to Hong Kong civil society, the Hong Kong Professional Teachers' Union and the Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF), disbanded this month. Both cited an inability to go forward in the changed atmosphere in the city created by the national security law. Chief Executive Carrie Lam dismissed concerns that the disbandment of the CHRF heralded a loss of freedom in the city, saying that many of the city's civil groups and individuals had "wilfully touched these red lines in the past", and that freedoms enshrined in the Hong Kong Basic Law may have to give way to goals such as national security, public hygiene, or public morals.
Several more pro-democracy organizations dissolved under the pressure of the national security law. The Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions additionally cited physical threats that had been reported by members. The disbandment of the Hong Kong Alliance followed the arrest of its leadership under charges of collusion with foreign forces, adding to earlier arrests of its lead figures. Student Politicism also dissolved.
References
- ↑ "Report to United Nations" (PDF). United Nations. Retrieved 11 May 2009.
- ↑ Kwan, Rhoda (23 September 2021). "Hong Kong group supporting human rights lawyers in China is latest to disband amid police pressure". Hong Kong Free Press . Retrieved 23 September 2021.
