新闻来源：www.abcnews.go.com
原文地址：First people are sentenced under Hong Kong’s tough new security law
新闻日期：2024-09-19
香港法院周四根据新国家安全法判处了首批两人，包括一名27岁的男子因身穿“解放香港，我们的时代革命”T恤被判14个月监禁，另一人则因在公交车座位背面书写“Hong Kong独立”的宣传语被判10个月。
首个被告楚凯邦（Chu Kai-pong）于6月12日穿着该T恤，试图提醒人们注意2019年的示威运动。法院指出，他的行为可能激起他人用非法手段改变政府的决定。
法官索维克（Victor So）在判决时说，楚凯邦的案件不属次要，因为他在获释前不久穿着该T恤，目的是激励人们记住当年的动荡，并复兴关于它的想法。这对他人的社会秩序构成了重大风险。
另一起案件中，另一名男子翠门杰（Chung Man-kit）承认三项叛国罪，被判10个月监禁。法院指出，他知道自己违反法律，在公交车座位背面书写了“Hong Kong独立”的宣传语句。
香港《人权国际组织》（Amnesty International）中国主任布鲁克斯（Sarah Brooks）称，楚凯邦的判决凸显了新国家安全法的严厉性。她呼吁当地政府撤回该法案。
楚凯邦是根据此立法首位被定罪的人士，但其模糊的措辞、广泛的内容和压榨的性质让香港人担心他可能不会是最后一个。
原文摘要：
A Hong Kong court sentenced the first two people under a tough new Hong Kong national security law on Thursday, including a man who was given 14 months in prison for wearing a T-shirt with a protest slogan. A second man received 10 months for writing pro-independence messages on the back of bus seats.
Chu Kai-pong, 27, wore a shirt on June 12 reading “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times,” a slogan chanted during anti-government protests in 2019. That day was the fifth anniversary of a demonstration in which thousands of people surrounded the city’s legislative council complex to protest a now-withdrawn extradition bill. Months of often-violent protests followed as demonstrators expanded their demands to call for greater police accountability and democracy.
Authorities have said the protest slogan could imply the separation of Hong Kong from China — a red line for Beijing.
Chu pleaded guilty in court on Monday to the charge of carrying out an act or acts with a seditious intent.
The city’s new security law, which critics say further stifles freedom of expression, took effect in March and imposes stiffer punishments for sedition offenses. Offenders face up to seven years in prison, up from the previous maximum sentence of two years for a first offense and three years for a subsequent offense.
Colluding with an external force to carry out such activities is now punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
In handing down Chu’s sentence on Thursday, Chief Magistrate Victor So said June 12 is viewed as a symbolic date among protesters and Chu’s case was not minor because he used the date in an effort to encourage others to remember the unrest and revive ideas about it. That caused a great risk to social order, he said.
He noted that Chu had already been jailed for sedition earlier this year and his subsequent act showed the deterrent effect of his previous sentence was insufficient.
He said Chu “planned to commit a crime shortly after he was released from prison and was evidently unwilling to reform,” but reduced the prison term by one-third because of Chu’s guilty plea.
In January, So sentenced Chu to three months in jail under a colonial-era law before the security law took effect. In that case, Chu was arrested for wearing a similar T-shirt at the airport and possessing publications deemed seditious by authorities.
The court heard on Monday that Chu had told police that he wore the T-shirt in June to remind people of the 2019 protest movement. Chu also wore a mask printed with “FDNOL,” an abbreviation of another protest slogan, “Five demands, not one less.”
The prosecution accused Chu of attempting to cause hatred, contempt or disaffection toward the country’s fundamental system and the city’s constitutional order. It said his acts could incite others to use illegal means to change what the authorities have decided on.
In a separate case on Thursday, another man, Chung Man-kit, pleaded guilty to three counts of sedition. So sentenced him to 10 months in prison, saying Chung knowingly broke the law by writing statements on the back of bus seats promoting Hong Kong independence.
The 2019 protest movement was the most concerted challenge to the Hong Kong government since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. It waned because of massive arrests, the exile of democracy activists, the COVID-19 pandemic and the imposition of an earlier 2020 security law by Beijing.
Amnesty International’s China director, Sarah Brooks, said Chu’s conviction and sentencing over his clothing choice highlighted “the sheer malice” of the new security law. She urged local authorities to repeal the law.
“Chu Kai-pong is the first person convicted under this legislation, but its vague wording, vast scope and repressive nature leaves Hong Kongers fearing that he will not be the last,” she said.
The Beijing and Hong Kong governments insist the two security laws are necessary for maintaining the city’s stability.
