A Portuguese man has become the first European citizen jailed under the China-imposed National Security Law in Hong Kong, a law widely criticised by rights groups.

Joseph John, also known as Wong Kin-chung, holds a Portuguese passport and Hong Kong residency and was previously based in the UK.

He was arrested for posting pro-independence and anti-China content on social media, after returning to Hong Kong to visit family in 2022

In February, he was convicted of “secession” and on Thursday sentenced to five years in jail.

Under the law, secession is the offence of advocating for Hong Kong to break away from China.

  • ReallyActuallyFrankenstein@lemmynsfw.com
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    7 months ago

    One of these days it might be nice to see my Western democratic country do something to dissuade China from continuing to dissolve the remains of Hong Kong’s democracy in a bathtub of authoritarian lye like this.

    • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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      7 months ago

      Sadly, I don’t think there’s much left of the original Hong Kong spirit and culture in Hong Kong itself anymore. The CCP has apparently displaced an absolute shitload of ethnic Han Chinese down to the region in a very intentional demographic and cultural dilution. It must be harrowing for native HKers to realize that the CCP has essentially succeeded in killing their hometown, and nobody anywhere did anything about it.