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Hong Kong courtroom has jailed a DJ for “uttering seditious” phrases within the newest crackdown on civil liberties within the area.
Tam Tak-chi, was given 40 months in jail after he was discovered responsible of 11 out of 14 prices towards him final month.
Tam, who was the primary particular person to be charged with sedition since 1997 – though as much as 20 individuals are actually awaiting trial – was additionally fined $5,000 (£489).
The 50-year-old former vice-chair of the Folks Energy occasion has been in jail since 2020 when he was arrested.
Tam was sentenced by choose Stanley Chan, who was picked by Hong Kong Chief Govt Carrie Lam to deal with nationwide safety circumstances.
It comes after Veteran journalist, Allan Au, 54, was arrested earlier this month for publishing “seditious supplies”, native media reported.
The journalist and lecturer was a former columnist for Stand Information, an internet platform which was closed final December after authorities froze the corporate’s property.
Though sedition was launched throughout British rule, it has change into extra broadly utilized by the federal government in tandem with the controversial safety regulation.
Beneath the safety regulation, the federal government has powers to criminalise any act of subversion, secession, terrorism or collusion with overseas or exterior forces.
Final summer time, Hong Kong’s final pro-democracy paper, Apple Each day, introduced its closure following allegations that a number of reporters had breached the safety regulation.
The publication had lengthy been a critic of the Hong Kong and Chinese language management whereas its founder, Jimmy Lai, was sentenced to 13 months in jail for taking part in a vigil to mark the 1989 Tiananmen bloodbath.
Final month Hong Kong police additionally threatened the chief of a UK-based human rights watchdog with jail.
Hong Kong Watch was accused of colluding with overseas forces and was ordered to take down its web site, the organisation’s chief govt Benedict Rogers stated in a press release.
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