08-05-2025
Hong Kong man jailed for 1 year over ‘seditious' online posts targeting police, judges, gov't
A Hong Kong man has been jailed for one year after he pleaded guilty to publishing over 100 Facebook posts that the court said incited hatred against police, judges, and the government.
Li Chun-kit, 36, was sentenced on Thursday under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance at the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts after he entered a guilty plea before Chief Magistrate Victor So.
The bus technician was arrested and charged in January with 'knowingly publishing publications that had a seditious intention' in connection with 117 posts he shared on Facebook between March 29 last year and January 21 this year.
In handing down his reasons for the sentence, So said the defendant smeared the police force and courts, stirred up hatred, and encouraged violence with his 'radical statements' that were 'not backed by any objective facts.'
The chief magistrate adopted 18 months of imprisonment as the starting point for the sentence and reduced Li's jail term to 12 months due to his guilty plea.
The offence under the domestic security law, more commonly known as Article 23, is punishable by up to seven years in prison. Jail terms meted out by a magistrates' court are capped at two years.
Li was said to have shared news articles and photos on his Facebook account along with his commentary. His posts could be viewed publicly, but received very few responses, the court heard.
The former Citybus employee attacked the police in most of his posts, saying that the force had made 'arbitrary arrests' and 'used violence' to crack down on protesters during the 2019 anti-extradition bill unrest.
The defendant called the police 'black cops' and said the Independent Police Complaints Council, which cleared the police force of any misconduct during the 2019 protests, had 'condoned' what he described as 'police brutality.'
Li criticised court rulings in protest-related cases, calling some judges 'stupid' and accusing them of 'framing' defendants on rioting charges. He said Hong Kong's judicial system was 'fucking broken,' adding that the city's rule of law was 'dead.'
Some of the posts Li published were said to have incited hatred against the national security law, with him calling the Beijing-imposed law 'evil' and 'redundant.'
He also encouraged violence by praising Leung Kin-fai, who killed himself after stabbing a policeman in July 2021, and asking others to follow Leung's act.
According to facts Li agreed to in court, he admitted to the police that he was the owner of the Facebook account. He said that his hatred of the police grew after the 2019 protest and that the posts he shared served as an 'emotional vent.'
So did not accept the defence argument that the seriousness of Li's posts was relatively low because of the few responses he received. Setting his posts as viewable by the public meant the coverage was wide, the chief magistrate said.
Separate to the 2020 Beijing-enacted security law, the homegrown Safeguarding National Security Ordinance targets treason, insurrection, sabotage, external interference, sedition, theft of state secrets and espionage. It allows for pre-charge detention of up to 16 days, and suspects' access to lawyers may be restricted, with penalties involving up to life in prison. Article 23 was shelved in 2003 amid mass protests, remaining taboo for years. But, on March 23, 2024, it was enacted having been fast-tracked and unanimously approved at the city's opposition-free legislature.
The law has been criticised by rights NGOs, Western states and the UN as vague, broad and 'regressive.' Authorities, however, cited perceived foreign interference and a constitutional duty to 'close loopholes' after the 2019 protests and unrest.
