Five Hong Kong speech-language pathologists were sentenced to 19 months in prison on Saturday for publishing children’s books that portray local democracy supporters as sheep defending their village against the wolves allegedly representing Beijing.
They were convicted Wednesday of “rioting” under a law inherited from the British colony and used by current authorities to suppress opposition alongside a national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020.
The authors of the books, Lai Man-ling, Melody Yeung, Sidney Ng, Samuel Chan, and Fong Tsz-ho, are the founders of the speech therapists association and spent more than a year in prison before the trial.
One of the group’s lawyers said on Saturday that the group could be released within 31 days after deducting the sentence already served.
Five professionals decided to publish three picture books to explain the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong for young readers.
The books were published in 2020, a year after the massive and often violent demonstrations of the pro-democracy movement.
This Saturday, in front of Judge Kwok Wai Kin, who called the work “brainwashing”, the three said they had no regrets.
Melody Yeung, 28, added that she hopes to take the side of the sheep. “I regret only one thing: I didn’t publish more books before I was arrested,” she said in court.
Sidney Ng, 27, said through her lawyer that the legal proceedings “scared civil society and alienated Hong Kongers”.
The prosecution said the picture books exhibited “anti-Chinese sentiments” and were intended to “incite readers’ hatred of the mainland Chinese authorities”.
However, the defendants argued that the books told “the story from the public’s point of view” and were intended to help children understand systemic injustices in society.
Amnesty International, who recently left Hong Kong under the National Security Act, described these sentences as “an absurd example of ruthless repression”.
Until recently, Hong Kong was the bastion of freedom of expression in China and is home to a vibrant and critical publishing industry.
But China has applied far-reaching political pressure on the city in response to the massive and often violent protests that occurred in 2019.
The leading figures of the movement are currently in prison, awaiting trial or on the run abroad.
Dozens of non-governmental organizations, including many trade unions, were suppressed.
source: Noticias
