First Conviction Under Hong Kong’s New National Security Law for Wearing “Seditious” T-Shirt

By Jessie Pang

HONG KONG – On Monday, a man from Hong Kong entered a guilty plea for sedition after wearing a T-shirt featuring a protest slogan. This marks the first conviction under the city’s new national security law that was enacted in March.

Chu Kai-pong, 27, admitted to a charge of "doing an act with seditious intention." The national security legislation has increased the maximum penalty for such an offense from two years to seven years in prison, with potential sentences rising to 10 years if it involves "collusion with foreign forces."

Chu was apprehended on June 12 at an MTR station while dressed in a T-shirt that bore the slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times,” paired with a yellow mask adorned with “FDNOL”—an abbreviation of another slogan promoting "five demands, not one less." These phrases were commonly heard during the extensive and at times violent pro-democracy protests of 2019, with June 12 being one of the pivotal days that ignited the prolonged upheaval.

During court proceedings, it was revealed that Chu explained to police that he wore the T-shirt to remind others of the protests. Chief Magistrate Victor So, selected by the city’s leader John Lee to handle national security cases, has postponed the case until Thursday for sentencing.

Hong Kong was handed back to China from British control in 1997, under the assurance that its freedoms, including freedom of speech, would be maintained through a "one country, two systems" framework. In 2020, Beijing enacted a national security law imposing severe penalties for secession, subversion, terrorism, or collusion with foreign entities, following the lengthy protests in the financial hub.

In March 2024, Hong Kong implemented a new security law, referred to as "Article 23," based on a provision in the city’s Basic Law.

Critics, including officials from the United States, have raised alarms about the new security legislation, emphasizing that the ambiguous definitions surrounding "sedition" might be employed to suppress dissent. However, local Hong Kong and Chinese authorities argue that the measures are essential for closing "loopholes" in the national security framework.