The Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal on Thursday overturned the acquittal of pro-democracy activist Chow Hang-tung by reinstating her conviction for inciting others to participate in an unauthorized assembly under Section 17A(3)(a) of the Public Order Ordinance and the common law.
Chow had previously been sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment on January 4, 2022, for encouraging participation in Hong Kong’s commemoration of the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, despite the vigil being prohibited by authorities as a COVID-19 measure. Missing from the courtroom was not the organizer of the vigil, Chow herself.
The High Court had previously overturned Chow’s conviction on the grounds that she could challenge the police prohibition on the vigil in a criminal trial and examined the operational proportionality of the prohibition in light of the circumstances existing at the time. The court found that the police did not fulfill their positive duty under Section 9(4) of the Public Order Ordinance and overlooked potential measures to facilitate the assembly.
However, the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal later revoked the High Court’s decision. It stated that Chow could not use the legality of a police prohibition as a defense in criminal proceedings. Furthermore, the court dismissed Chow’s assertion that the police unlawfully and disproportionately interfered with her fundamental rights by banning the vigil. According to the court, the prohibition was rationally associated with the objective of protecting public health.
At the time, Chow was the vice-chair of the pro-democracy group Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. Later, on March 11, 2023, she was sentenced to four and a half months in prison for failing to comply with a national security police data request. On November 2, 2023, the Hong Kong High Court was seen rejecting Chow’s application, where she sought to be declared a party to the injunction appeal proceedings of the protest-related song “Glory to Hong Kong”.
The full details on these proceedings are available in the original JURIST article.