Hong Kong judges challenge jailed political party chief’s appeal argument

Two Hong Kong judges hearing an appeal by the head of a now-dissolved pro-independence political party have questioned his lawyer’s argument that the national security law cannot be used for sentencing some conspiracy offences.

Joseph John, 42, appeared before three Court of Appeal judges in the High Court on Friday to challenge his five-year jail sentence for conspiracy to incite secession.

He admitted last year to circulating 42 posts on the Hong Kong Independence Party’s social media platforms, which called for the placement of American and British troops in the city and the abolition of the Sino-British Joint Declaration. The agreement paved the way for Hong Kong’s return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.

In sentencing, District Judge Ernest Lin Kam-hung set a starting point of 78 months imprisonment, but declined to award a full one-third discount to John as defendants in other criminal cases would have received.

The judge instead reduced the sentence to five years, the statutory minimum for a serious offence of inciting secession.

The Beijing-decreed legislation stipulates a maximum of 10 years imprisonment for inciting secession.

It does not provide a mechanism for penalising a conspiracy to commit the same offence. Instead, conspiracy offences are punished in accordance with the colonial-era Crimes Ordinance.