President of dissolved Hong Kong party pleads guilty to violating national security law through seditious social media posts
The agreement, signed by Britain and China in 1984 to settle the future of Hong Kong, paved the way for the city’s return to Chinese rule in 1997.
According to a summary of facts that John admitted to, the party was founded by a European citizen in 2014 and registered as a political party in Britain a year later. It was declared as a “distinct national group” which sought self-determination on Hong Kong’s future.
Over the years, the party had accumulated more than 7,000 followers on its Facebook page and about 2,000 on its Twitter, Instagram and Telegram channels. All platforms between 2019 to 20212 were used to repeatedly disseminate the party’s political agenda and to call for crowdfunding and protests outside the British consulate in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong police arrest man over allegedly seditious social media posts
The prosecution said the defendant was arrested when he returned to Hong Kong for a family visit on November 1, 2022.
The court was told that the defendant graduated from the Royal College of Music in London and worked as a project engineer at a prestigious British music academy and a part-time music teacher. He had lived in the UK since college.
John did not admit to creating or releasing any of the posts with seditious content during a police investigation as he said he was only managing those social media accounts. Evidence, however, revealed that not only did he have access to all accounts, but also he had a business card on his phone stating he was the party’s “president”.
The defendant submitted a written mitigation and told the court that he had been living overseas for too long and was “too stupid” to be aware of the national security law enactment since July 2020.
Hong Kong clerk jailed for 4 months for string of seditious social media posts
But Judge Lin said John was mobilising people in Hong Kong and putting them in danger while he himself was “living at ease on the other side of the world”.
“His motive is execrable,” the judge said.
Lin adjourned the case until April 11 for sentencing.