Latest news with #ClaudiaMo
The Star
03-05-2025
- Politics
- The Star
Hong Kong ex-lawmaker calls prison experience surreal
Lawmakers Claudia Mo and Gary Fan give a press conference next to Legislative Council in Hong Kong on July 4, 2019. Four former Hong Kong opposition lawmakers who were jailed in the city's largest national security case were released on April 29, 2025 after completing their prison terms, the first among 45 convicted to regain their freedom. - AFP HONG KONG: A former Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmaker on Friday (May 2) recounted her "surreal" experience being jailed for more than four years under the city's national security law. Claudia Mo, 68, was among the 45 Hong Kong opposition figures imprisoned in the city's largest national security case, after they held an informal election in 2020 that authorities deemed a "conspiracy to subvert the state power". Mo and ex-lawmakers Jeremy Tam, Kwok Ka-ki and Gary Fan were each released on Tuesday after completing a jail term of four years and two months - the first batch of defendants to regain their freedom. "Many thanks for all the concern and care expressed upon my release," Mo wrote on Facebook on Friday. "Prison life was surreal, almost Kafka-esque to start with," she added. "But I didn't suffer the two major incarceration traumas, loneliness and boredom, thanks to the social arrangements inside." Mo posted a photo "taken (a) couple hours after getting home from prison" that showed her in front of a banner reading "Welcome home mum". The ex-lawmaker thanked her family and friends, including Cardinal Joseph Zen, Reporters Without Borders and the now-shuttered minority rights group Hong Kong Unison. "My thoughts are with my co-defendants who remain in custody," she added. Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 following huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in the finance hub. The court last year jailed 45 pro-democracy figures under that law, including some of Hong Kong's best-known activists and figures from across the city's once-diverse political spectrum. Mo and the three other Hong Kong democrats released on Tuesday had pleaded guilty, which led to a reduced sentence. She said in her Friday Facebook post that she had read more than 300 books, mainly novels, and improved her French while behind bars. Mo previously worked as an AFP journalist and cited her experience covering Beijing's bloody 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown as pivotal in her political awakening. On Tuesday, she was taken out of prison just before sunrise in a convoy of vehicles with curtains drawn. Hong Kong authorities said it made "appropriate arrangements" based on factors including prison security and inmates' privacy and safety. Shortly after Mo returned home, her husband Philip Bowring said she was resting and not in a position to speak to media. - AFP
Al Jazeera
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Hong Kong ex-lawmaker describes ‘Kafka-esque' prison experience
A former Hong Kong lawmaker who was jailed as part of a sweeping crackdown on dissent in the Chinese territory has described her prison experience as 'Kafka-esque'. Claudia Mo, a former journalist who co-founded the pro-democracy Civic Party, was released on Tuesday after more than four years behind bars for national security offences. Mo, who was freed together with three other ex-politicians, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to subvert state power in 2022 in a mammoth national security case related to the participation of 47 activists in an unofficial primary election. Another 44 activists pleaded guilty or were convicted in the landmark case, which was condemned by Western governments and rights groups as an example of Beijing trampling freedoms in the former British colony. In her first comments since her release, Mo said on Friday that she had read more than 300 books and brushed up on her French while in detention. 'Many thanks for all the concern and care expressed upon my release. Prison life was surreal, almost Kafka-esque to start with. But I didn't suffer the two major incarceration traumas, loneliness and boredom, thanks to the social arrangements inside,' Mo said in a post on Facebook. Mo thanked her supporters, including the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders and retired Roman Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen, who was arrested on national security grounds in 2022 without being charged. 'My thoughts are with my co-defendants who remain in custody,' she said. Once home to a vibrant political opposition and freewheeling media scene, Hong Kong was transformed into a polity with little space for dissent by the imposition of a sweeping Beijing-decreed national security law in 2020. Beijing and the Hong Kong government have praised the legislation for restoring peace and order to the city after the eruption of often violent mass antigovernment protests in 2019. On Friday, Hong Kong national security police arrested the father and brother of wanted activist Anna Kwok, the executive director of the Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council, on suspicion of handling her finances, local media reported. Police said in a statement that they had arrested two men, aged 35 and 68, on suspicion of committing 'attempting to deal with, directly or indirectly, any funds or other financial assets or economic resources belonging to, or owned or controlled by, a relevant absconder'.
HKFP
02-05-2025
- Politics
- HKFP
‘Surreal, Kafka-esque': Hong Kong's ex-lawmaker Claudia Mo breaks silence on prison life following release
Former Hong Kong opposition lawmaker Claudia Mo has made her first public comment about her 'prison experience,' days after she was released from jail. 'My prison experience… Prison life was surreal, almost Kafka-esque to start with,' Mo wrote in a Facebook post on Friday. 'But I didn't suffer the two major incarceration traumas, loneliness and boredom, thanks to the social arrangements inside.' She said she had read over 300 books and picked up her French during her custody. Mo also posted a photo of herself on Facebook, saying that it was taken hours after she was released from the Lo Wu Correctional Institution early Tuesday morning. The picture shows her at home standing in front of a banner reading: 'Welcome Home Mum,' appearing more weathered than in her last public appearance. Mo – who was a journalist before she embarked on politics – also thanked her friends and family, naming in particular Cardinal Joseph Zen, press freedom NGO Reporters Without Borders, and the recently disbanded minority rights group Unison. She also said: 'My thoughts are with my co-defendants who remain in custody.' Mo, fellow ex-lawmakers Jeremy Tam, Kwok Ka-ki, and Gary Fan were the first batch of 45 jailed democrats to be released from prison after being sentenced in the city's largest national security trial, which concluded in November. All four were escorted out of prison before sunrise on Tuesday in police vehicles with curtains drawn. The four pro-democracy figures were sentenced to four years and two months in jail after pleading guilty to a subversion charge for their role in an unofficial primary election organised by the city's pro-democracy camp in July 2020. The four had been kept in custody since late February 2021, when their police bail was revoked. Aleksandra Bielakowska, advocacy officer of Reporters Without Borders (RSF), told HKFP on Friday that Mo was a 'press freedom defender' they had advocated for. 'In the past she was one of the biggest defenders of press freedom… we really wanted to support her as she was [a] leading figure to support all reporters in the past,' she said. Hong Kong 47 Hong Kong charged 47 opposition figures, including Mo and some of the city's best-known democrats, with subversion under a Beijing-imposed national security law in 2021. Authorities accused the group of conspiring to subvert state power by organising an unofficial primary that aimed to seize an opposition-controlled majority in the city's legislature, which would allow the pro-democracy camp to veto the government budget for political demands. Three handpicked national security judges ruled last year that the scheme would create a 'constitutional crisis' and convicted 45 out of the 47 democrats, sentencing them to prison terms ranging from four years and two months to 10 years. The majority of the group have been held in custody since February 28, 2021, when they were charged with the offence. Nine more are expected to be released from prison this year, including LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham and ex-district councillor Tiffany Yuen. Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong's mini-constitution in June 2020 following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest. It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts – broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure. The move gave police sweeping new powers and led to hundreds of arrests amid new legal precedents, while dozens of civil society groups disappeared. The authorities say it restored stability and peace to the city, rejecting criticism from trade partners, the UN and NGOs.
Malay Mail
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Malay Mail
Ex-HK lawmaker Claudia Mo calls her national security jail term ‘Kafkaesque'
HONG KONG, May 2 — A former Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmaker today recounted her 'surreal' experience being jailed for more than four years under the city's national security law. Claudia Mo, 68, was among the 45 Hong Kong opposition figures imprisoned in the city's largest national security case, after they held an informal election in 2020 that authorities deemed a 'conspiracy to subvert the state power'. Mo and ex-lawmakers Jeremy Tam, Kwok Ka-ki and Gary Fan were each released on Tuesday after completing a jail term of four years and two months — the first batch of defendants to regain their freedom. 'Many thanks for all the concern and care expressed upon my release,' Mo wrote on Facebook today. 'Prison life was surreal, almost Kafka-esque to start with,' she added. 'But I didn't suffer the two major incarceration traumas, loneliness and boredom, thanks to the social arrangements inside.' Mo posted a photo 'taken (a) couple hours after getting home from prison' that showed her in front of a banner reading 'Welcome home mum'. The ex-lawmaker thanked her family and friends, including Cardinal Joseph Zen, Reporters Without Borders and the now-shuttered minority rights group Hong Kong Unison. 'My thoughts are with my co-defendants who remain in custody,' she added. Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 following huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in the finance hub. The court last year jailed 45 pro-democracy figures under that law, including some of Hong Kong's best-known activists and figures from across the city's once-diverse political spectrum. Mo and the three other Hong Kong democrats released on Tuesday had pleaded guilty, which led to a reduced sentence. She said in her Friday Facebook post that she had read more than 300 books, mainly novels, and improved her French while behind bars. Mo previously worked as an AFP journalist and cited her experience covering Beijing's bloody 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown as pivotal in her political awakening. On Tuesday, she was taken out of prison just before sunrise in a convoy of vehicles with curtains drawn. Hong Kong authorities said it made 'appropriate arrangements' based on factors including prison security and inmates' privacy and safety. Shortly after Mo returned home, her husband Philip Bowring said she was resting and not in a position to speak to media. — AFP
Yahoo
29-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Former Hong Kong lawmakers released from prison after serving sentences for 'subversion'
April 29 (UPI) -- Four former Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers were released from prison Tuesday after completing their sentences for allegedly attempting to overthrow the government of the special administrative region of China. Claudia Mo, 68; Kwok Ka-ki, 63; Jeremy Tan, 49; and Gary Fan, 58; pleaded guilty to being members of the so-called "Hong Kong 47" group charged under a controversial National Security Law imposed by Beijing over organizing an unofficial primary ahead of 2020 elections in a bid to help pro-democracy parties win a majority in the legislature. "[I am] going home to reunite with my family now. Thanks for the care from Hong Kong people and the media," Fan said as he departed Shek Pik Prison on Lantau Island. Mo's family confirmed she was home after being released from the Lo Wu Correctional Institution, which is close to the border with Shenzhen. "I am very pleased that she is home, but she is resting so I cannot really say any more," Mo's husband, British journalist Philip Bowring, told reporters. "I am sorry about that, but as you know the circumstances, so that is all I can say." The four were all sentenced to four years and two months in prison in November but were freed due to time served since being arrested in 2021. They were among 45 of the Hong Kong 47 pro-democracy activists jailed for between 50 months and 10 years on charges of conspiracy to commit subversion under the NSL imposed in the wake of mass protests against it in 2019 that snowballed into wider pro-democracy protests that brought the territory to a standstill. The four received the shortest sentences based on a one-third discount for their early guilty plea and reductions for their past public service and "ignorance of the law." Former law professor Benny Tai received the longest sentence of the group -- 10 years for his role in masterminding the primary elections strategy -- and remains behind bars. The other two were cleared of the charges against them in May. The judges in the trial, three hand-picked national security justices, ruled that the democrats' plan was to abuse their control of the legislature to trigger a "constitutional crisis" by vetoing the budget, shutting down the government and forcing the chief executive to resign.
