Just over a year ago, it was hard to imagine that the “Pearl of the Orient”, where Beijing promised 50 years of “one country, two systems”, would become a hell for a group of democrats. Barrister and “father of democracy in Hong Kong” Lee Chu-ming received a suspended sentence, while Lai Chi-ying, who was smuggled into Hong Kong as a child and worked his way up from a worker to the founder of the Apple Daily, was sentenced to one year in prison for marching, but that’s not all. The official media called for the banning of ‘Apple Daily’.
Hong Kong is not only known for its large pool of professionals, top-notch financial institutions, multinational corporations, and “duty-free port,” but it is also a land of freedom, or from a Western perspective, a land of semi-freedom, with freedom of speech, judicial independence, and freedoms that our mainland compatriots do not enjoy. Now, one by one, the pioneers of democracy in Hong Kong are being turned into “criminals” by the Beijing authorities.
On Friday, nine pro-democracy activists were sentenced, including the 82-year-old founding chairman of the Democratic Party and veteran barrister Martin Lee, who is known as the “father of democracy” in Hong Kong, and the man who was smuggled into Hong Kong as a child, who worked his way up from being a worker to becoming the chairman of the Next Media Group, and who still dared to speak out at a time when the Hong Kong media was being squeezed and bought by the Chinese Communist Party. The founder of ‘Apple Daily’, Lai Chi-ying, still has the courage to speak out.
Nine democrats, nine defendants, they are Lai Chi-ying, Lee Chu-ming, Lee Cheuk-yan, Ng Mi-yee, Leung Kwok-hung, Albert Ho, Ho Sau-lan, Leung Yiu-chung and Au Nok-hin. They were charged with organizing and participating in the case of the crime of unauthorized assembly on August 18, 2019. Leung Yiu-Chung and Ho Sau-Lan were sentenced to 8 months in jail; Au No-Hsuan to 10 months; Martin Lee to 11 months; Lai Chi-Ying, Lee Cheuk-yan, Ng Mi-Yi and Albert Ho to 12 months; with Albert Ho, Ng Mi-Yi, Leung Yiu-Chung and Martin Lee receiving suspended sentences. Leung Kwok Hung was sentenced to 18 months in prison.
What really happened on that day? It was the climax of the “anti-China” movement in Hong Kong. On several occasions, over a million people took to the streets to protest against the Hong Kong government and the Chinese Communist regime behind it, protesting against the curtailment of the “one country, two systems” promised by the Chinese authorities to the international community for the smooth reunification of Hong Kong. The trigger for the anti-Send-China movement was the push by Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam to amend the ‘Fugitive Offenders Ordinance’ in accordance with Beijing’s wishes, so that suspects could be sent to mainland China for trial. ” broke out.
On August 9, 2019, the Civil Human Rights Front, a pan-democratic organization, launched a “running rally” in Victoria Park to protest against the amendment of the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance and police violence, and to demand universal suffrage. The protesters demanded universal suffrage. The turnout was so large that organizers said 1.7 million people attended. It was a large but peaceful protest. The only controversy was when protesters later left the police-sanctioned rally site to march. The nine people charged then held up banners and led the protesters in a march from Victoria Park to the Chater Road pedestrian-only zone in Central.
Analysts say that Beijing has been looking for a chance to settle scores in the fall since the outbreak of the anti-sending, and that the enactment of a Hong Kong version of the National Security Law, which replaced the Hong Kong Legislative Council on June 30 last year, paved the way for Beijing’s full-scale crackdown on Hong Kong’s democratic forces. Many pro-democracy activists have been arrested one after another, and some have been forced to flee, such as the former founding chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance for Democracy (HKA), Mr. Law Kwun Chung, while others have been imprisoned, such as the former secretary-general of the HKA, Mr. Wong Chi-fung, and former leading member of the HKA, Mr. Chow Ting. The time has come to remove the “father of democracy”, Martin Lee, and to suppress the media mogul, Lai Chi-ying, as well as all the democrats in Hong Kong.
In the courtroom, barrister and former legislator Ng Yi-yee made an impassioned speech in person. She said: she has been trying her best to guard the rule of law for many years, and when people’s rights are violated, she has to respond forcefully. “When the court applies a law that takes away people’s rights, even if the fault lies in the provisions, but not the judge, it will shake the cornerstone of judicial independence and the rule of law.” She said the people of Hong Kong have been disciplined in the past, including on August 18, when millions of people attended, and restraint was exercised in a peaceful and orderly manner and in the right direction, because of which she could not abandon the people and continue to move forward alongside them. She quoted Thomas More. Moore’s famous quote concludes, “I am a servant of the law, but I am first and foremost a servant of the people, and the law must serve the people, not the people bend to the law.”
The founder of Apple Daily, Lai Chi-ying, has long been a thorn in Beijing’s side, and even in the dark hours of the White Terror that Hong Kong faced, his newspaper was still unafraid to report the truth. Knowing full well that they will not leave him alone, Lai wrote a letter this week to his colleagues at ‘Apple Daily’ asking them to be extra careful because “freedom of speech is now a dangerous job.” He wrote: “The situation in Hong Kong is becoming increasingly chilling, the times are falling before us and it is time for us to stand tall. He was also accused of “colluding with foreign powers,” and AFP said in an article titled “Lai Chi-ying, the media mogul Beijing hates,” that the 73-year-old would likely spend his life in prison.
The Chinese Communist authorities may be going after ‘Apple Daily’? Hong Kong’s official media, Ta Kung Pao, controlled by the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in Hong Kong, published an article on Friday titled “Apple banned by law to plug loopholes in national security. The official media article said: “‘Apple’ has become a major loophole in Hong Kong’s national security, ‘Apple’ is not removed, there are still loopholes in Hong Kong’s national security, the law to ban ‘Apple ‘ and other media that ‘incite violence and incite independence’ and challenge the national security law, there is no time to lose.”
Some analysts have commented that the dictator is afraid of free media and free speech of the people. Let Hong Kong eventually turn into Shenzhen, into Guangzhou, into Beijing, into any city in China that can be slaughtered at will, and Beijing will be completely at ease.
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