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Hong Kong courts convict Ma Chun-man, also known as ‘Captain America 2.0’ during the pro-democracy protests, for supporting secession from China.
Hong Kong’s Ma Chun-man, who often wielded a prop shield and dressed as Captain America during the 2019 pro-democracy protests, has become the second individual to be convicted under the draconian national security law that the Chinese Communist Party-ruled government in Beijing imposed on Hong Kong last year.
Ma was accused of inciting and supporting secession through the use of slogans and speeches, which called for Hong Kong’s independence. The court heard that Ma expressed support for Hong Kong’s independence at least 20 times during protests, as well as on social media, between August and November 2020.
District Court Judge Stanley Chan, who handed down the verdict, stated that Ma “advocated a clear political intention” and was “without reservation.” Ma’s defense argued that he was simply exercising the freedom of expression guaranteed to the Hong Kong people by the Basic Law.
Throughout the 2019 protests in Hong Kong, Ma earned the nickname “Captain America 2.0,” stemming from his tendency to appear in the marches dressed as the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Captain America. A notebook, which had been submitted as evidence for the four-day trial, was titled “Captain America’s Resistance Diary.” Other belongings used as evidence for Ma’s national security law violations included a T-shirt that read, “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times,” which was a common slogan during the protests, now illegal; and another shirt that read, “Give me liberty or give me death.” Ma is due to be sentenced on Nov. 11.
The court charged Ma under chapter III, articles 20 and 21 of the national security law — or as it’s officially called, The Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding National Security in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Article 20 criminalizes acts “separating the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region or any other part of the People’s Republic of China from the People’s Republic of China” while article 21 states that offenders can be “a person who incites, assists in, abets” acts of secession.
Hong Kong’s national security law was drafted in May 2020 by the CCP’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee in Beijing, in response to the pro-democracy protests and the inability of the Hong Kong government to quell them. The legislation was drafted and passed in the span of several weeks, coming into effect on June 30, 2020. Several countries and governments have recognized that over the course of the last year, Hong Kong’s national security law has been used to essentially transform the city and rid it of the democratic freedoms and rights that Hong Kong was promised through the Sino-British Joint Declaration.
It has impacted every sector and aspect of society in the special administrative region, including civil service, education and media. Well over a hundred politicians, journalists and activists have been arrested as a result, with tens of thousands more fleeing abroad.
Source: Hong Kong Free Press
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