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HKFP
16-05-2025
- Politics
- HKFP
Hong Kong independence activist jailed under nat. sec law appeals for shorter sentence at top court
A Hong Kong independence activist jailed for five years over conspiring to incite secession under the national security law has taken his challenge to the city's top court, appealing for a lighter sentence. Joseph John, the leader of the now-disbanded UK-based Hong Kong Independence Party, filed a leave application at the Court of Final Appeal, the top court's website showed on Thursday. The activist, a Portuguese national, also known as Wong Kin-chung – was sentenced in April last year after pleading guilty to conspiring to incite secession between July 1, 2020, and November 1, 2022, by sharing social media posts. His offence was categorised as 'serious,' and he was given a starting sentence of six and a half years. He was denied the full one-third discount customarily given to defendants who plead guilty. He was eventually sentenced to five years, instead of four years and four months if the discount had been fully applied. The decision was made in light of a top court ruling in 2023, which stated that defendants' final jail sentences could not be less than five years if they committed a 'serious' national security offence, based on an article in the national security law about minimum jail terms. John attempted to lodge a legal challenge at the High Court's Court of Appeal earlier but was denied in April. His barrister Randy Shek said at the time that the District Court judge who sentenced him erred in denying him the discount. He argued that John's offence was a conspiracy offence, and the word 'conspiracy' did not appear in the national security law's article about prison terms. Therefore, the rule did not apply to John's offence, Shek said. He added that the section under the city's Crimes Ordinance relating to conspiracy offences did not specify minimum jail sentences. But the panel of three Court of Appeal judges – Jeremy Poon, Derek Pang, and Anthea Pang – shot down Shek's argument, writing in their judgment that both incitement – the offence in the top court's ruling – and conspiracy are attempted offences. It would therefore not be logical for the minimum sentence rule to apply only to incitement, but not to conspiracy offences, they wrote. No date has been scheduled yet for John's leave application hearing, according to the Court of Final Appeal's website. Advocating 'decolonisation' from China John was the first dual citizen convicted and jailed under the security law. He was 40 at the time of his arrest in November 2022. Born in Hong Kong, John emigrated from the city in 2014. He lived in the UK but still had relatives in Hong Kong. He returned to Hong Kong in 2022 to visit his mother, who had dementia. According to the prosecution, John – as the leader of the Hong Kong Independence Party – was one of the managers of the party's website and social media accounts, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Telegram. The online posts advocated for Hong Kong's designation as an independent Commonwealth nation and its 'decolonisation' from China, the prosecution said. The Hong Kong Independence Party disbanded in May 2022, according to the UK government's company registry. In June 2020, Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong's mini-constitution – bypassing the local legislature – following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest. It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts, which were broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure. The move gave police sweeping new powers, alarming democrats, civil society groups and trade partners, as such laws have been used broadly to silence and punish dissidents in China. However, the authorities say it has restored stability and peace to the city.
South China Morning Post
15-04-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong court rejects appeal by head of dissolved party over secession charge
A Hong Kong court has dismissed an appeal by the head of a now-dissolved pro-independence political party, ruling that minimum sentences apply to all conspiracy offences under the national security law even when the penalty is not explicitly provided. Advertisement The Court of Appeal on Tuesday handed down a judgment that rejected Joseph John's request to review his five-year jail sentence for conspiracy to incite secession through the publication of offensive content on the social media platforms of the Hong Kong Independence Party. The three presiding judges found the lower District Court correctly labelled the case as serious, warranting a jail term of at least five years for the 42-year-old under a two-tier sentencing regime. The appellate court set a benchmark over a contentious topic surrounding the Beijing-decreed legislation, which could affect the outcome of other proceedings, while also weighing in on a high-profile trial of 47 opposition activists. John, a UK resident who holds a Portuguese passport, was denied a full one-third reduction of his 6½-year sentence which would otherwise be awarded to defendants pleading guilty at the earliest opportunity. Advertisement The national security law stipulates a prison sentence of five to 10 years for a serious offence of inciting secession, but provides no express mechanism for penalising a conspiracy to commit the crime. Prosecutors levelled the charge by invoking the national security law and the colonial-era Crimes Ordinance, which outlines the principles for sentencing conspiracy offences. One requirement is that sentences should match the gravity of the substantive crime.
South China Morning Post
21-02-2025
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong judges challenge jailed political party chief's appeal argument
Two Hong Kong judges hearing an appeal by the head of a now-dissolved pro-independence political party have questioned his lawyer's argument that the national security law cannot be used for sentencing some conspiracy offences. Joseph John, 42, appeared before three Court of Appeal judges in the High Court on Friday to challenge his five-year jail sentence for conspiracy to incite secession. He admitted last year to circulating 42 posts on the Hong Kong Independence Party's social media platforms, which called for the placement of American and British troops in the city and the abolition of the Sino-British Joint Declaration. The agreement paved the way for Hong Kong's return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997. In sentencing, District Judge Ernest Lin Kam-hung set a starting point of 78 months imprisonment, but declined to award a full one-third discount to John as defendants in other criminal cases would have received. The judge instead reduced the sentence to five years, the statutory minimum for a serious offence of inciting secession. The Beijing-decreed legislation stipulates a maximum of 10 years imprisonment for inciting secession. It does not provide a mechanism for penalising a conspiracy to commit the same offence. Instead, conspiracy offences are punished in accordance with the colonial-era Crimes Ordinance.
