Standing up

Albert Ho, Figo Chan, Cyd Ho, Long Hair, and Yeung Sum and others are sentenced for illegal assembly and, in some cases, ‘incitement’ (attracting sentences of 8-10 months) over the Tiananmen vigil assembly last year. Judge Amanda Woodcock…

said the defendants had “wrongly and arrogantly” believed their cause was more important than protecting the community from a public health crisis.

Now they’re coming for the health-care workers.

Security Secretary PK Tang prepares to take down the HK Journalists Association by ‘reflecting public concerns’ and suggesting the press folk come clean over their finances. They hit back at his accusations and (as he likes to say) ‘smearing’. On the finances: David Webb identifies sponsors of the organization in the past and shows that, like the Professional Teachers Union, the body has long been on perfectly good terms with the establishment (not least the more obsequious parts of it). Now, under your friendly neighbourhood Leninists, the group must be demonized as a threat to national security.

The HKJA are not alone in standing up to intimidation. American lawyer Samuel Bickett did a Q&A last night on Reddit. A mainly geeky Anglo audience, but powerful stuff worth reading for his intro and some incisive views on the judiciary and the treatment of prisoners. Lawyers would usually tell clients awaiting an appeal to keep quiet, but this one has decided he has nothing to lose by going down fighting. The police will no doubt see his high-profile commentary and criticism as ‘smearing’ the NatSec regime. A few excerpts…

…My case was unrelated to any political protests or activism, and in recent months the government assault on civil society has expanded well beyond political activists, targeting among others the oldest and largest teachers’ union, the Bar Association, and the Law Society. Most recently, they have been going after organizations that provide basic support for prisoners, such as helping with legal expenses or providing things like letters from pen pals or shampoo, as well as the Hong Kong Journalists Association, which just today the Security Secretary said may be violating national security—and these sorts of statements are nearly always the first step in intimidating them to shut down or have the leadership all be arrested…

In my experience, the professional classes are overwhelmingly supportive of the protest movement.

…I think the most critically important thing Westerners can do right now is to reach out to local organizations in your city helping to integrate the flood of Hong Kongers escaping to other countries … to the extent anyone can offer support to these orgs, some of their time to meeting the new arrivals and helping them to feel welcome and at home, that is a huge help…

…I don’t fault anyone who has taken a guilty plea … In my case, the decision to plead not guilty was easy–I, my lawyers, the public, all naively believed that there was simply no way I’d be convicted of the charge. The alleged cop falsely accused a kid of a crime, committed six criminal assaults that we know about, and denied on camera that he was a police officer. It wasn’t a difficult case…

… I can now say that some of the kindest, most decent people I’ve ever been able to call friends are former drug dealers, societal rejects, the hated of society. I write them still and will do so for as long as they are in prison.

… knowing I was innocent made it harder emotionally. I’m a person of faith, and what really helped me when I was feeling down was telling myself that while I didn’t commit this crime, I had done plenty of bad things in my life, and that I should see this prison time as atonement for those other bad things. That sounds messed up, but inside prison that’s what got me through the day. As Martin Luther King said, “unearned suffering is still redemptive.”