Chu Kai-pong (諸啟邦), a 27-year-old Hong Kong citizen, has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for wearing a T-shirt with a protest slogan, marking the first conviction under the city's newly enacted Safeguarding National Security Ordinance (SNSO) based on Article 23 of the Basic Law.
Chu Kai-pong was arrested on June 12, 2024, at an MTR station for wearing a T-shirt bearing the slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times” (光復香港 時代革命) and a yellow mask with the letters “FDNOL,” an abbreviation for “Five Demands, Not One Less” (五大訴求，缺一不可). These slogans were prominent during the 2019 protests against a proposed extradition bill between Hong Kong and mainland China.
Chu was reportedly walking around the Shek Mun MTR station in Sha Tin. When approached by police, he refused to show his identity card. Consequently, he was charged under the SNSO with “engaging in acts with seditious intent” (作出具煽動意圖的作為), “loitering with intent” (有意圖而遊盪) and “failing to present identification upon request” (不遵從要求而出示身份證明).
On September 19, Chu was sentenced under section 24 of the SNSO for “doing with a seditious intent an act or acts that had a seditious intent”.
The court presided by Chief Magistrate Victor So Wai-tak (蘇惠德) found that Chu's actions were intended to “reignite the ideas behind” the 2019 protests and noted Chu's lack of remorse from a previous conviction for similar actions. Chu had been jailed for three months in a separate incident for wearing a T-shirt with the same slogan and possession of other offensive items.
Hong Kong's massive 2019 pro-democracy protests were followed by a government crackdown. On June 30, 2020, the Chinese Communist regime imposed on Hong Kong the National Security Law (NSL) criminalising acts of “secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with foreign forces,” with penalties reaching life imprisonment for serious violations.
In addition to the NSL, in March 2024 the Hong Kong government adopted the SNSO under Article 23 of the Basic Law to further enhance national security by addressing offences such as treason, sedition, and the theft of state secrets.
The law allows for closed-door trials and the detention of suspects for up to 16 days without formal charges. Additionally, organisations accused of collaborating with foreign forces can be banned from the city. Acts of sedition can be punished by up to seven years in prison, or up to ten years if conducted in collusion with an “external force.”
According to Loh Ji-wai (羅子維), a young Hong Kong activist currently in exile in Taiwan, the conviction of Chu Kai-pong demonstrates the Hong Kong government's increasing repression of political expression.
Loh told Radio Taiwan International (RTI) in an interview prior to Chu’s sentencing that the crackdown on civil liberties is no longer limited to political activists but is gradually extending to ordinary citizens, stifling their freedoms. This trend reflects a broader pattern of tightening control over free speech and dissent in the city.
“The National Security Law was rarely used to target or prosecute ordinary citizens,” Loh stated in the interview. “The Hong Kong government has expanded the scope of national security crimes through Article 23, making all Hong Kong citizens victims under a climate of white terror.”
Loh said that all the people of Hong Kong know that displaying certain political slogans in public may lead to arrest and imprisonment. He compared Hong Kong to Tibet and Xinjiang, arguing that political expression in these areas can only be done through a “method of self-sacrifice” (自我犧牲的方法).
He further argued that Victor So Wai-tak, the judge who tried the Chu Kai-pong case, is a collaborator of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Hong Kong government. So Wai-tak was appointed by Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu (李家超), himself a Beijing-installed loyalist.
Loh claimed that Chu’s sentencing is a way for the Hong Kong authorities to “kill the chicken to scare the monkey” (殺雞儆猴), i.e. to punish an individual to intimidate the whole society.
Fung Jiu-tin (馮詔天), secretary-general of the Taiwan-based exile group Hong Kong Outlanders, told RTI that “Hong Kong today is no longer a country governed by the rule of law as in the past, but a place where everything is prioritised according to the standards of love for the country and love for the [Communist] party (愛國, 愛黨). Politics is given priority, and this is also the case in the courtroom.”
Fung said that the Hong Kong government wants to plant fear in people’s minds, leading to “inner self-censorship”.
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