Hong Kong residents who repeatedly repost overseas online criticism of domestic national security law could breach provisions if they incite hatred of authorities
- Justice secretary Paul Lam outlines scenarios where people could breach new domestic national security law
- But he says that prosecutors will evaluate every case to see if it meets threshold for endangering national security
In a televised interview on Sunday, Paul Lam Ting-kwok outlined scenarios where people could risk falling foul of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, which came into force the day before.
One was whether reposts of overseas criticism could be considered as seditious intent. Sedition is one of the major offences stipulated in the law, mandated by Article 23 of the Basic Law, the city’s mini-constitution.
“If someone repeatedly reposts them online, expressing strong agreement and adds comments underneath that purely aim to incite people’s hatred towards both the Hong Kong and the central government, there are risks [of violating the law], of course,” Lam, also a barrister, said.
“[Some people] might repeatedly circulate [the criticisms] online. Is this driven by a quest for truth, curiosity or a desire for relief? It’s challenging for me to discern the mens rea [guilty thought] at this point.”
He said prosecutors would evaluate each case to decide whether the individuals involved had intended to endanger national security.
Seditious intention is defined in the legislation as inciting hatred of, or disaffection with, Hong Kong officials or the offices of the central authorities in the city.
The new law expanded the scope of the existing sedition law and increased the maximum jail sentence from two to seven years, with a possible 10 years behind bars if there was collusion with an external force.
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A second scenario raised was whether repeated criticism of government policies in the hope they would be revoked could constitute sedition if the comments led to hatred towards the government.
Lam again did not give a definite answer. He said it would depend on whether the individuals had a genuine intent to encourage improvements in government or not.
“In this world, there are some individuals who persistently cling to their beliefs … they might repeat themselves 10 times, a hundred times,” he said. “[We] will examine the content, and whether this occurs after the government has responded. The burden of proof lies with us.”
Chris Tang Ping-keung, the security secretary, said on the same show that, apart from someone’s statements, investigations could be carried out to gather any supporting evidence, such as items found in an individual’s home or their behaviour.
The question of whether it would be illegal for residents to retain alleged seditious publications at home as mementoes was also raised.
Lam said whether it would be regarded as an offence or not hinged on if there was a reasonable excuse for possession of the publication.
He explained that an item with “only one page with seditious intent” was not enough to constitute a crime.
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But Lam said if someone was discovered to have an intention to distribute “a hundred copies” of the material on the streets that could be “subject to scrutiny”.
Anyone in possession of a publication with seditious intent without a reasonable excuse will have committed an offence and face up to three years in jail under the new law.
Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee, convenor of the key decision-making Executive Council, was asked on a separate occasion whether keeping a copy of the Apple Daily newspaper, which is now closed, at home as a memento would breach the law.
“Having an old newspaper under the bed at home is not a crime in itself,” Ip said.
“All our crimes are based on the same principle of common law, requiring a criminal intent. It is only considered a crime if there is an intention to incite harm to national security.
Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying is being tried on charges of conspiracy to print and distribute seditious publications, as well as collusion with foreign forces.
