Hong Kong’s Court of Appeal has granted activist Tam Tak-chi leave to appeal his sedition convictions to the Court of Final Appeal. The decision, rendered under section 32(2) of the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal Ordinance, allows for appeals only in cases involving an important point of law or substantial injustice.
In its judgment, the Court of Appeal noted the public interest in clarifying whether the now-repealed sedition offenses under sections 9 and 10 of the Crimes Ordinance constituted indictable offenses. This issue is especially pertinent as the provisions are predecessors of the new sedition offenses under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance.
Tam was the first individual to be fully tried for sedition since Hong Kong’s 1997 handover from British to Chinese rule. Convicted in April 2022, he was sentenced to 40 months in prison and fined HK$5,000 for 11 charges, including uttering seditious words, holding an unauthorized assembly, and public disorder. His convictions were upheld by the Court of Appeal on March 7, which initially refused leave to appeal, emphasizing that sedition offenses aim to protect national security and public order.
Notably, Tam is also one of 31 pro-democracy activists who pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit subversion under the China-imposed National Security Law. His national security trial, along with that of 16 other activists who denied the charges, commenced in February 2023.
For further details, you can visit the original report on JURIST.