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HONG KONG: Hong Kong has convicted a second individual below its sweeping nationwide safety legislation for chanting pro-independence slogans, amid a political crackdown within the metropolis.
Ma Chun-man was convicted of inciting secession on Monday after he was discovered to have chanted slogans resembling “Hong Kong independence, the one method out” on 20 events between August and November of final 12 months.
Critics in Hong Kong say the Nationwide Safety Regulation erodes freedoms, resembling these of expression and meeting, that had been promised to town for 50 years when the previous British colony was handed over to China in 1997.
Ma is the second individual to be convicted below the brand new legislation, which outlaws what authorities describe as secession, subversion of state energy, terrorism and international collusion in intervening in Hong Kong’s affairs.
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Ma had been arrested a number of occasions for chanting such slogans earlier than being remanded in custody.
Sentencing for Ma was adjourned to Nov. 11, and he faces as much as seven years in jail.
Tong Ying-kit, the primary individual to be convicted below the nationwide safety legislation, was jailed for 9 years for inciting secession and terrorism after he drove his bike into a bunch of cops final July whereas bearing a flag with the banned slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our occasions.”
The vast majority of town’s distinguished pro-democracy activists have been arrested for collaborating in unauthorized assemblies, and dozens of political organizations and commerce unions have ceased operation out of concern for his or her members’ security below the safety legislation.
Over 120 individuals have been arrested below the safety legislation because it was carried out final June.
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