Hong Kong protests: Telegram group operator jailed for nearly 5 years over incitement offences tied to 2019 clashes

The administrator of a Telegram group has been jailed for nearly five years after he admitted abetting attacks on Hong Kong police officers and instigating a violent demonstration during the 2019 social unrest.

The District Court on Monday also confiscated HK$1.64 million (US$210,230) which the defendant, insurance agent Siu Cheung-lung, earned through managing the channel “The Cheating Master” between November 3, 2019 and March 27 last year.

Siu, 33, pleaded guilty last Monday to nine incitement charges over 17 posts he made between November 3 and 19, 2019, a period that featured some of the most violent clashes between protesters and police.

Those messages were among 1,197 provocative posts published on the channel with 21,862 subscribers, some of whom were also persuaded by Siu to buy his hygiene products or provide him with financial support after he made multiple claims about running out of cash.

Judge Anthony Kwok Kai-on rejected the defence’s assertion that the channel had played a relatively minor role in the social unrest. Instead, he found the group had exerted “widespread and substantial” influence and intensified conflicts in a society which had already become highly polarised during the protests.

Siu had previously pleaded guilty to three counts each of incitement of arson and public nuisance as well as one count each of inciting others to riot, cause grievous bodily harm and administer poison or other destructive or noxious substances.

Prosecutors agreed to drop a money-laundering count arising from the HK$1.64 million on condition that he plead guilty to the incitement charges and surrender the ill-gotten gains to the government.