Arrest warrants issued for fugitive ex-Hong Kong lawmaker Ted Hui, activist over social media calls to cast blank votes, boycott Legco election
- Anti-graft agency says ex-lawmaker Ted Hui allegedly incited the public to cast blank ballots in the December 19 election and faces four charges
- Opposition activist Yau Man-chun, who quit as a district councillor in July and left for Britain, had made repeated calls on Facebook for boycott of poll
Hui and former Sha Tin district councillor Yau Man-chun, both 39, allegedly incited the public to cast blank ballots or not vote, respectively, by displaying posts on their social media pages between October 30 and November 29 in an election period, a spokesman for the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said on Monday.
Former opposition lawmaker Hui, who left Hong Kong in November last year and is currently in Australia, appealed on Facebook on October 29 for voters to cast blank ballots. He also said he aimed to achieve the highest number of blank votes in the history of the city’s elections as resistance to tyranny.
Opposition activist Yau, who quit as a district councillor in July and left for Britain, had made repeated calls on Facebook since late last month for a boycott of the December 19 election.
The ICAC said it had earlier investigated the relevant posts and forwarded its findings to the Department of Justice for legal advice. The department considered there was sufficient evidence to institute a prosecution against the two men, it said.