China wants to silence the Hong Kong people even though it is persecuting them. A court ruling published on Friday shows that a judge has punished former pro-democracy lawmaker and journalist Claudia Mo for speaking to Western journalists, including our own Jillian Melchior.
police arrested Ms. Mo, along with almost the entire opposition movement, in January. She and 46 others are charged with conspiracy to subversion under national security law for organizing or participating in an informal pro-democracy primary last July. Judge Esther Toh denied Ms. Mo’s bail in April, and the world learned why on Friday.
National security law forbids “collusion” with vaguely defined foreign forces and states that defendants may not be bailed “unless the judge has reasonable grounds” to believe that they “will no longer commit acts that the endanger national security ”. Prosecutor Maggie Yang described Ms. Mo’s WhatsApp correspondence with these sites, the New York Times, Bloomberg and the BBC as the reason for keeping Ms. Mo behind bars.
In a court case in which her denial of bail is explained, Judge Toh quoted from a conversation Ms. Mo spoke about with Ms. Melchior on October 1, 2020 12 Hong Kongers captured after attempting to flee to Taiwan by boat.
Ms. Mo said to Ms. Melchior, “The detention and treatment of the 12 demonstrators in Hong Kong is the ultimate warning and threat to Hong Kong residents, which can be seen if you are caught. The new security law and spate of arrests have proven to be a terrifying strategy, likely quite successful – to instill a persistent political cold in the city. “Every word of it is true and it was hardly a secret.
