A Hong Kong woman who admitted to publishing "seditious" content on her social media accounts has been given a four-month prison sentence. Authorities say that she planned to stimulate others to violence via her posts.
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A local court heard that the 48-year-old lady intended her tweets, which featured protest songs and images, to "bring into hatred or contempt or to excite disaffection" against the regional leadership and Beijing.
According to the local media, Law Oi-wa pleaded guilty to "doing an act or acts with a seditious intention" and was given a four-month sentence in jail.
Between 6 June of last year and 28 March of this year, Ms. Law is said to have written 65 posts on Facebook and Twitter to instigate violence and "counsel disobedience to law."
Two men were also detained in Hong Kong earlier in March for having what the authorities described as "seditious" picture books. Hana Young, deputy regional director for Amnesty International, stated at the time:
"Even in the backdrop of how severely the National Security Law has impacted people's liberties in Hong Kong since its implementation in 2020, this feels like another new low for human rights in the city."
"National security police have detained two persons for having 'seditious' children's books about wolves and lambs, a 'crime' that carries a maximum two-year prison sentence.
It is the most recent instance of the Hong Kong government employing the sedition statute from the colonial era as an excuse to suppress dissenting voices.
The deputy regional director asserted that the absurd charges of sedition must be abandoned. And that nobody ought to be put behind bars merely because they possess picture books.
After the publishers were imprisoned last year, they were thought to be the first to be arrested for simply owning the books. Authorities interpreted the books about sheep attempting to keep wolves out of their hamlet as referencing people in Hong Kong and the Chinese government.
At Ms. Law's trial, the judge also stated that the 48-year-old defendant planned to stir up other people's emotions. The offense occurred over ten months.
The judge continued by saying that others may have been "stimulated" by the disseminated social media messages.
