Hong Kong opposition activist handed fresh sedition charge over anti-national security law protest
- The latest charge against Tam Tak-chi pertains to protests in May for which he was already facing public order charges
- He is also charged with five other counts of uttering seditious words in a separate case
The latest charge was added to the three counts of public order charges Tam, 48, was already facing over Hong Kong Island protests on May 24 in a case being handled by Eastern Court. He has also been accused of uttering seditious words on five other occasions between March 15 and July 19 in a separate case heard in Fanling Court last week.
The leading figure of localist group People Power was the first person to be charged with sedition since Hong Kong’s handover to China in 1997.
Prosecutors said Tam’s remarks were uttered with intent to “bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection against the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, to raise discontent or disaffection amongst inhabitants of Hong Kong, or to counsel disobedience to law or to any lawful order”.
But Eastern Court did not hear further allegations as to what was said by Tam during the May 24 protests.
During the Fanling hearing on the other protests, Tam was accused of chanting purportedly seditious remarks like “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times” and “Five demands, not one less”, both of which emerged last year as rallying cries for the anti-government demonstrations sparked by the now-withdrawn extradition bill.
