The faces of the Hong Kong 47 — Jailed and bailed under Beijing's national security law

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The faces of the Hong Kong 47 — Jailed and bailed under Beijing's national security law
By China correspondent Bill Birtles and Emily Clark
Posted Wed 7 Jul 2021 at 8:05pmWednesday 7 Jul 2021 at 8:05pm, updated Thu 8 Jul 2021 at 1:30amThursday 8 Jul 2021 at 1:30am

Kowk Ka-ki, Prince Wong Ji-yuet, Eddie Chu Hoi-dick and Helena Wong Pik-wan have been charged with subversion. (
Supplied: VOA, Stand News, Facebook
)
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• A group of 47 democratic politicians and activists charged with subversion are due in a Hong Kong court today in a case that has left members of the city's once-vibrant pro-democracy movement demoralised and considering exile.
  Key points:
  
  • Forty seven people charged under Hong Kong's new national security law are in court today
  • They are charged with conspiracy to commit subversion
  • Experts say in one year, China has jailed, bailed and exiled multiple generations of political leaders in Hong Kong
  Among those in court are a prominent legal scholar, health care workers, a disability activist and a union founder.
  To their supporters, they were Hong Kong's hope for democracy and a fair future.
  To government prosecutors, they are dangerous criminals who deserve to be behind bars for three years, possibly for life.
  Against a backdrop of other arrests, increasing censorship, attacks on the media and demands for pledges of loyalty to the government, many Hong Kongers are left with simmering rage but nowhere to take their fight.
  From his new home in exile in New Zealand, veteran pro-democracy campaigner and retired professor Joseph Cheng said the 47 defendants "cover many generations of active political leaders".
  "Their detention, their prosecution at the moment represents a devastating blow," he said.
  Most of the 47 appearing in court today are already behind bars while they await trial.
  They were charged under Hong Kong's national security law and judges presiding over these cases were handpicked by Beijing and heeded calls by the government to deny bail.
  "This is of course very, very difficult for their families and some of the younger legislators have young children as well," Dr Cheng said.
  What's in Hong Kong's new national security law, and why is it so controversial?
  
  Why is the new national security law pushed onto Hong Kong by Beijing so controversial, and what does it actually say?
  Read more
  An assistant to one of the 47 accused, who wanted to give her name as Tin, said it was heartbreaking to visit her former boss in prison.
  "His wife is really very sad about her husband being detained," she said.
  "She can visit him three to four times each week at the moment but if he's convicted, she will only be able to visit him once a week and the list of things she can bring him is much shorter.
  "I saw the parents of one of the other district councillors in the waiting room at the prison and they are very old.
  "I've seen wives waiting with their children, or elderly parents waiting to visit their child behind bars."
  Tin told the ABC many Hongkongers "feel very lost and disappointed" about the prosecution.
  

  "It really is extremely different in Hong Kong before the National Security Law and now," she said.

  The Hong Kong 47
  The national security law was passed 10 days before democratic politicians and activists came together for a primary election.
  Members of the loose alliance organised and contested the unprecedented vote to choose candidates and give democratic parties the best chance of winning a majority.
  The national security legislation is a sweeping mandate from China's government that has effectively criminalised speech or actions that challenge Beijing's authority in Hong Kong.
  Specifically, it outlaws any act of subversion, secession, collusion and terrorism, but is worded vaguely enough to give police broad room to define what is and isn't acceptable.
  For their role in the primary election, the 47 were charged with subversion under the national security law.
  "Many residents don't know if their comments or activities that are fine one day may breach the national security law the next", said Edward*, a political staffer for one of the politicians facing subversion charges.
  
  So, who are the 47 defendants in this case?
  Many of them were former members of Hong Kong's Legislative Council. Others held local — or district council — seats.
  They also have day jobs as academics, journalists and nurses.
  There is a pilot among the group, as well as a doctor.
  
  
  
  Sam Cheung, Winnie Yu, Joshua Wong and Andrew Chiu.(
  Supplied/Reuters: Stand News, VOA, Tyrone Siu
  )
  Among them is Sam Cheung, 27, a district councillor elected in a landslide for pro-democracy candidates in 2019.
  As he was being detained in January, he announced his wife was pregnant, but prosecutors have succeeded in stifling bail applications to wait for the trial with her at home.
  Before he was detained, he posted a message on Facebook: "Ideas are bulletproof".
  
  Also charged with subversion is Winnie Yu, who, at 32, started the Hospital Authority Employee Alliance — a union for healthcare workers.
  In February last year, when Hong Kong had 15 confirmed cases of COVID-19, Ms Yu organised a healthcare worker strike demanding the government close the border to China as the outbreak spread.
  Then there's Joshua Wong, who is a very prominent pro-democracy campaigner and one who is already serving multiple sentences for illegal assembly.
  He's 24 years of age. When he was 21, he was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
  Another suspect, veteran former legislator Claudia Mo, was denied bail by a judge after prosecutors cited critical comments she made to foreign media journalists over WhatsApp.
  On Thursday, a judge will hear an application by prosecutors to push for longer sentences for the 47 by having the trials transferred to Hong Kong's High Court — paving the way for potential life sentences.
  How did Asia's world city come to this?
  With most avenues for meaningful protest, critical media or political change exhausted, there is now no meaningful way to fight for democracy.
  "There is a general pessimism," Dr Cheng said.
  "There is a general feeling that there's not much you can do, but at the same time, the feelings are very strong, there are strong sentiments of resentment and defiance, as represented by the tremendous numbers of people who queued up early for the last edition of the Apple Daily."
  Edward told the ABC: "Under this situation, I believe there is a red-line effect [of self-censorship], and people don't want to talk about politics anymore."
  Dozens of activists, including some wanted by Xi Jinping's National Security police, have fled Hong Kong to the United Kingdom, Taiwan and even Australia.
  The UK has prepared for up to 300,000 Hongkongers to migrate over the next five years under a special passport scheme.
  "There are waves of people who plan to leave Hong Kong," Dr Cheng said.
  "Some of them are not activists at all, some of them are young parents who want a better education for their children, some of them are teachers who feel threatened that they can not teach according to their conscience, that they have to do propaganda work for the authorities."
  
  
  
  Tiffany Yuen, Carol Ng Man Yee, Raymond Chan and Au Nok hin. (
  Supplied: Facebook, VOA, HK Labor party under Creative Commons 2.0)
  )
  Last week, long lines of people formed at check-in counters as Hong Kong residents flew to the UK, some of them for good.
  But the national security arrest of a journalist at Hong Kong airport and a newly-announced suspension on flights to the UK — officially because of rising COVID-19 cases in Britain— has made the option to leave even more fraught.
  "It's not easy to leave here because I am not living my life alone," Edward said.
  "I have family and friends and if I leave this city, it won't be easy to leave them behind."
  One year after the national security law passed, conditions in Hong Kong have descended to the point that human rights group Amnesty described the city as being on "a rapid path to becoming a police state".
  In its first 12 months, 110 people were arrested for alleged national security crimes under the law, while hundreds more were detained for protest-related actions, usually under the guise of violating social distancing rules or gathering without police approval, known as "illegal assembly".
  COVID-19 social distancing measures enforced by large numbers of police on politically sensitive days have been used to stop Hongkongers from holding vigils and protests against China's government.
  National Security has also been used to shut down the city's only remaining pro-democracy media outlet, the Apple Daily.
  Beijing maintains law brings stability
  
  
  
  Every person whose photo hangs on this wall in Hong Kong is a pro-democracy activist who has been arrested. (
  AP: Kin Cheung
  )
  Hong Kong's leader Carrie Lam and her superiors in China's government have long said the national security law was designed to bring stability to Hong Kong.
  Advocates of the law point out that the mass protest movement of 2019 that prompted the legislation involved violent characters who vandalised shops and infrastructure, blocked roads and created havoc that damaged the city's economy.
  Just this week, Hong Kong police arrested nine people including six high school students on suspicion of engaging in terrorist activity.
  The group had allegedly planned to make bombs and plant them across the city.
  "For a long time, citizens have been exposed to wrong ideas, such as achieving justice through illegal means," Ms Lam said.
  "They should not be influenced into thinking that they can find excuses to inflict violence."
  Pro-democracy figures are increasingly dismayed at public statements from Ms Lam and others in her administration, including the city's new security secretary Chris Tang, who was recently promoted after overseeing the dramatic police crackdown of the past year.
  In a speech this week, he foreshadowed further censorship to come.
  "Those who advocate Hong Kong independence have not completely given up. They continue to use the media and different art and cultural forms to spread their ideology", he said.
  He's also railed against 'fake news' and 'smearing' of the police force in comments some fear could signal further speech restrictions.
  The streets of Hong Kong may be quieter, but for those who marched on them, there is no peace.
  

  "In 2019, we still had a little bit of hope, but in 2021, we feel just hopeless," Tin said.

  The Hong Kong 47
  These are the names of all 47 people appearing in court for conspiracy to commit subversion for their role in the pro-democracy movement's July 2020 primary election:
  Au Nok-hin, Ray Chan Chi-chuen, Tat Cheng Tat-hung, Sam Cheung Ho-sum, Andrew Chiu Ka-yin, Owen Chow Ka-shing, Eddie Chu Hoi-dick, Andy Chui Chi-kin, Ben Chung Kam-lun, Gary Fan Kwok-wai, Frankie Fung Tat-chun, Kalvin Ho Kai-ming, Gwyneth Ho Kwai-lam, Kwok Ka-ki, Lam Cheuk-ting, Mike Lam King-nam, Nathan Lau Chak-fung, Lawrence Lau Wai-chung, Ventus Lau Wing-hong, Shun Lee Yue-shun, Fergus Leung Fong-wai, Leung Kwok-hung, Kinda Li Ka-tat, Hendrick Lui Chi-hang, Claudia Mo Man-ching, Gordon Ng Ching-hang, Ng Kin-wai, Carol Ng Man-yee, Ricky Or Yiu-lam, Michael Pang Cheuk-kei, Jimmy Sham Tsz-kit, Lester Shum Ngo-fai, Sze Tak-loy, Benny Tai Yiu-ting, Roy Tam Hoi-pong, Jeremy Tam Man-ho, Tam Tak-chi, Andrew Wan Siu-kin, Joshua Wong Chi-fung, Prince Wong Ji-yuet, Henry Wong Pak-yu, Helena Wong Pik-wan, Wu Chi-wai, Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu, Clarisse Yeung Suet-ying, Winnie Yu Wai-ming, Tiffany Yuen Ka-wai.
  (Source: Hong Kong Watch)
• 

  The Hong Kong 47. Remember these faces, their trial and this moment in China's history

  These people once ran for local office, founded unions and fought for democratic freedoms. Now, they're political prisoners and the faces of dramatic change in Hong Kong.

  www.abc.net.au