List of Articles
The Washington Post: Hong Kong Arrests 16 [Falun Gong Practitioners]
, Friday, March 15, 2002; 6:41 AM
HONG KONG -- Authorities filed obstruction charges Friday against 16 Falun Gong followers who scuffled with police outside China's liaison office a day earlier - the first charges filed against group members in Hong Kong.
The Falun Gong [...] remain legal in Hong Kong, where supporters frequently protest the brutal Chinese crackdown. Human rights groups say hundreds of Falun Gong followers have died while being detained in China. [...]
Those arrested - 12 Hong Kong and four Swiss Falun Gong followers - had staged a protest outside the Chinese liaison office on Thursday. The arrests occurred after the Chinese liaison office complained.
Falun Gong spokesman Kan Hung-cheung said it appeared Hong Kong police were being pressured by China and said the charges should be dropped.
"They have arrested them wrongly and charged them wrongly," Kan said. "This is a double mistake. It will hurt the citizens of Hong Kong."
Police Superintendent Michael Chiu said Friday that two counts of obstruction were filed against the followers because they ignored police orders to move their demonstration to the side of the building.
Chiu said the first count carried a sentence of up to three months in jail and $64 in fines. The second count carried up to three months in jail and $640 in fines.
The Swiss followers were released on bail late Thursday and resumed their protest Friday in the area approved by police.
A magistrate freed the remaining practitioners on bail Friday after ordering them to return March 22.
Earlier, protester Erich Bachmann of Kreuzlingen, Switzerland, said police threatened to deport the foreign Falun Gong followers if they did not cooperate and move their protest. Chiu said that was false.
China has deported foreign Falun Gong followers in the past.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31748-2002Mar15.html
Associated Press Attorney: "This prosecution is completely misconceived"
Thursday, Aug 8, 2002
HONG KONG - A defense lawyer told a magistrate Thursday that 16 Falun Gong [practitioners] must be acquitted on obstruction charges or Hong Kong's guarantees of free speech and assembly would mean nothing.
"This prosecution is completely misconceived," attorney Paul Harris argued, wrapping up his case on the 26th day of Hong Kong's first-ever criminal trial against Falun Gong practitioners.
The Falun Gong [practitioners], including four Swiss and one New Zealand citizen, are accused of creating an obstruction during a protest outside the Chinese government liaison office here on March 14. Police urged them to move several steps away from the spot in front of the office, but they refused and were arrested in a scuffle.
Nine of the defendants are also accused of obstructing police who broke up the demonstration following complaints from the Chinese office, and three are accused of assaulting police.
Harris told Magistrate Symon Wong that a conviction would go against Hong Kong's Basic Law, which guarantees Western-style civil liberties here including the freedoms of speech, demonstration and assembly.
If Wong sides with the prosecution's case, the Basic Law would be "totally meaningless," Harris said.
The demonstration, against mainland China's suppression of Falun Gong, was so small that the Falun Gong followers didn't even have to give advance warning to Hong Kong police, who must be advised of marches by more than 50 people or rallies by more than 30, Harris said.
"It was entirely peaceful," he said. "It did not constitute any threat to public order." [...]
Prosecutors said they wanted to make a brief statement in the afternoon. Magistrate Wong has not indicated when he will deliver verdicts.
South China Morning Post: Officers Under Fire in Falun Gong Case
08/08/2002
The footpath where Falun Gong protesters were arrested for obstruction outside the Beijing Liaison Office in Connaught Road was wide enough to stage a mini-concert or park six cars, a court was told yesterday.
Police were also accused of undermining their case as the barriers they erected after the arrests on March 14 took up four times the space the protesters had occupied.
Barrister John Haynes, representing some of the 16 Falun Gong members [Editor's note: Falun Gong does not have membership] accused of blocking the office entrance in Western, said the police kept the barriers up for at least four days after the protesters were arrested.
In his final submission yesterday at Western Court, Mr Haynes said the nine-meter-wide footpath offered "wonderful, big and clear space." He said video footage showed the protesters did not obstruct the office entrance, contrary to police claims.
"The pavement was wide enough for parking six Mercedes or holding a small football game or even a mini-concert," Mr Haynes said.
The 16 Falun Gong members, including four Swiss nationals, each deny one charge of causing an obstruction in a public place and one of committing an act that could obstruct a public place.
Nine local Falun Gong members, all Hong Kong residents, deny a joint charge of obstructing Inspector Ho Ming-yan in a police vehicle at Western police station. Three members also deny one count each of assaulting police officers.
Mr Haynes said police had been "influenced" to clear the footpath because the Beijing Liaison Office had the status of a semi-consulate building.
He accused the office of implementing a "not in my backyard policy".
Mr Haynes said it was alarming that the prosecution had not summoned even a single ordinary pedestrian or bystander to testify whether or not the defendants caused any "potential obstruction".
Instead, he said, the whole prosecution case was based on the views of police and liaison office security guards.
Barrister Paul Harris, representing other defendants, will give his final submission before Magistrate Symon Wong Yu-wing this morning.
(Clearwisdom.net) 8-09-02
Glenda Jackson, a member of the UK Parliament and a former film star, has signed a petition calling on the Hong Kong authority to stop the politically motivated trial of Falun Gong practitioners in Hong Kong.
The petition states:
“A matter of very serious concern has come to my attention and this is why I write to you now.
International media have reported that on 14 March Hong Kong police detained 16 Falun Gong practitioners, including four Swiss nationals, as they held a peaceful public vigil in front of the Chinese liaison office to raise awareness of Beijing's persecution of Falun Gong. Soon afterwards the practitioners were charged, for the first time in Hong Kong, with causing obstruction, which has reportedly been widely regarded as resulting from political pressure from China.
I was told that during the arrests police resorted to tactics such as strangling elderly women, thumbing painful acupressure points, and pulling hair, and that nine Falun Gong practitioners sustained minor injuries.
International media have reported a string of incidents that indicate an alarming erosion of civil liberties and freedoms in Hong Kong. ...
What is of even greater concern is that the HKSAR government is pushing ahead with the "subversion" law, which could be used to further suppress dissent. The Economist on 18 April reported that the "subversion" law was now in draft form.
The unprecedented developments, particularly those targeted at peaceful Falun Gong demonstrators, are a very serious concern for me, and damaging to Hong Kong's reputation in the international community.
I urge the HKSAR government to investigate the alleged human rights abuses and drop the charges against Falun Gong practitioners.
http://clearwisdom.net/emh/articles/2002/8/9/25027.html
Thursday Aug 15,12:19 AM ET
HONG KONG (AP) - Sixteen Falun Gong followers were convicted Thursday of causing an obstruction in a protest outside the Chinese government's liaison office here, in a case that rights activists are watching as a potential threat to Hong Kong's freedoms.
It was the first time Hong Kong had brought criminal charges against members of Falun Gong, which is outlawed as an "evil cult" in mainland China but remains legal in this former British colony. Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997.
Magistrate Symon Wong convicted all of the defendants, including four Swiss and one New Zealand citizen, of two counts: causing a public obstruction and acting in a way that could cause a public obstruction.
Nine of the defendants, all of them Hong Kong Chinese, were convicted of the more serious charge of obstructing the police who broke up the demonstration on March 14. Three of those people were also convicted of assaulting a police officer.
The Falun Gong followers showed little emotion and said nothing as Wong read out the verdicts in the Western Magistracy, ending a trial that had begun in June.
Wong did not immediately say when he would impose sentences.
There have been many accusations that Hong Kong had acted politically in bringing the charges. In issuing the verdicts, Wong disputed such contentions, saying the case had nothing to do with the defendants practicing Falun Gong.
A spokesman for Falun Gong, Kan Hung-cheung, said the convictions would be appealed.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20020815/ap_on_re_as/hong_kong_falun_gong_2
By MARGARET WONG, Associated Press Writer Thursday Aug 15,10:36 PM ET
HONG KONG - The conviction of 16 Falun Gong followers on obstruction charges drew mixed reactions from Hong Kong newspapers Friday, with some accusing the government of going too far.
The Chinese-language daily Ming Pao said police had overreacted and "a wrong prosecution resulted in a wrong verdict."
A magistrate convicted the Falun Gong practitioners on Thursday of causing a public obstruction during a protest March 14 outside the Chinese government liaison office here — in a case that many critics called a political attempt to appease Beijing.
Ming Pao noted that the trial hinged on laws intended to stop illegal street peddlers from blocking Hong Kong's sidewalks.
"It was not meant to target any political dissidents, restricting them from demonstrating and exercising their right of freedom of expression," Ming Pao editorialized.
A pro-Beijing newspaper, Ta Kung Pao, supported the government's decision to try the Falun Gong followers, who included four Swiss and one New Zealand resident, and said they deserved to be convicted.
The defendants all received small fines but no jail time, even though some were found guilty of more serious offenses including obstructing and assaulting the police.
"The verdicts are completely based on the facts," Ta Kung Pao editorialized. "The facts are there. Their guilt can't be denied."
When Hong Kong was reverted from British to Chinese sovereignty in 1997, Western-style freedoms of speech and assembly were guaranteed for at least 50 years under a government arrangement dubbed "one country, two systems."
Frequent local protests by Falun Gong, which is outlawed in mainland China as an "evil cult," however, have outraged many pro-Beijing figures who have demanded a local ban on their activities.
Hong Kong has stopped well short of that, and Falun Gong remains legal here, but opposition figures and human rights campaigners fear the territory's freedoms are being undermined.
Hong Kong officials and the magistrate who delivered the verdicts, Symon Wong, insisted that the case had nothing to do with anyone's Falun Gong practices.
Wall Street Journal: Persecution in Hong Kong
Major Business News August 16, 2002
Every chance they get, Hong Kong officials repeat that the region's autonomy is not being whittled away by Beijing. The government doth protest too much. Just consider the Falun Gong's March 14 protest outside Beijing's liaison office in Hong Kong -- 16 members were arrested, and yesterday convicted, for obstruction. Whether under pressure from Beijing or not, the SAR is certainly doing its bidding.
Life is increasingly difficult for Falun Gong followers in Hong Kong. After more than 30 members were seized and beaten while visiting the mainland in April last year, Chief Executive Tung Chee Hwa suggested the [group]'s adherents were dangerous. A month later, 100 Falun Gong members from foreign countries were detained and deported by immigration officials at Chek Lap Kok airport.
Hong Kong police have begun contriving reasons to thwart peaceful Falun Gong activities, for instance, tearing down the group's banners because approval was not secured from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department. The group's favorite protest site was taken away, supposedly to make way for more flowerbeds.
All of this undercuts the Justice Department's claim that the decision to prosecute in the March 14 Falun Gong case was not politically motivated. Indeed, as the protesters' defense lawyer pointed out, the police barricades were more of an "obstruction" to the general public than the protesters themselves.
Falun Gong followers pose no threat to Hong Kong. If Mr. Tung's government wishes to uphold Hong Kong's status as a stable base for the international business community, it would make sense to focus less on flowerbeds and more on preserving the impartiality of the police and judiciary.
August 16, 2002
The imposing colonial courtrooms at Western Magistracy have, over the years, played host to numerous cases of causing an obstruction in a public place. It is a routine offence, created decades ago, which is normally used to impose minor fines on errant street hawkers.
But yesterday, when Magistrate Symon Wong Yu-wing stepped into court No 2 to deliver his verdict in such a case, he found the old wooden benches packed to capacity. And among the onlookers were representatives from the United States, British and Canadian governments.
This, of course, was no normal obstruction case. This was the first trial in Hong Kong involving the Falun Gong movement, which has been banned on the mainland since 1999. It was also the first to test the extent to which the Basic Law protects the right to demonstrate.
There were 16 defendants, four of them Swiss nationals, who had been arrested during a demonstration outside the Beijing Liaison Office on March 14. As well as two obstruction charges, some were accused of assaulting police.
The trial, which lasted a staggering 26 working days and involved what the magistrate described as an "enormous" amount of evidence, seemed to take on a significance beyond that of the relatively minor offences involved.
It was fought out in an intensely political climate.
Defense lawyers argued that persecution of the Falun Gong movement on the mainland had now apparently been extended to Hong Kong. This, they argued, had led not only to the arrest of the defendants during a peaceful demonstration, but had influenced the manner in which the prosecution conducted its case. Defense barrister John Haynes claimed the police had adopted a policy of refusing to allow demonstrations outside the liaison office.
At one stage an application was made by a second defense counsel, Paul Harris, for the magistrate to stand down on the grounds that he might be perceived to be biased.
The prosecution, for its part, accused the defense of trying to use the trial for political ends, and highlighted what it alleged to be a carefully planned Falun Gong demonstration aimed at achieving the maximum media exposure, even if that meant breaking the law. "It was well organized, media outlets were contacted, press releases prepared and a large banner constructed," said prosecutor Kevin Zervos in his closing address. [...]
Bachmann, having had his mainland visa cancelled, decided to stage a three-day hunger strike in Hong Kong instead. He decided the liaison office was the appropriate venue and was joined by the other defendants.
At the heart of the defense case was the argument that the area outside the office was easily large enough to accommodate a small demonstration, without causing an obstruction to anyone. The most inconvenience it would cause members of the public would be that they might have to make a minor detour.
Mr. Haynes argued that you could stage a small football match or a mini-concert in the space where the demonstration was held. He said the pavement area was 140 sq meters, while the demonstration occupied a space of just seven sq meters.
This is where the political element, arising from Falun Gong's mainland ban and concerns about its position in Hong Kong, start to bite. All the prosecution witnesses who spoke of members of the public being obstructed by the demonstrators were either police officers or members of a security team employed at the liaison office.
Mr. Haynes said it was surprising that no uninterrupted demonstrations had ever successfully been held there.
Prosecutor Mr. Zervos hit back by arguing that members of the public had clearly been obstructed. But he added that even if this was not the case, the prosecution should still succeed.
This was because it was only necessary to prove that the actions of the defendants "may" have caused an obstruction.
But the defense had another card up its sleeve. Mr. Harris argued that the conduct of the Falun Gong members could not amount to a crime because the obstruction laws must be interpreted in accordance with the constitutional protection provided by the Basic Law of the right to demonstrate.
It would only be if their conduct was unreasonable that it would become unlawful. Any demonstration might potentially cause some obstruction to someone.
If the right to demonstrate was going to be a meaningful one, then there must be a permissible element of obstruction or potential obstruction, argued Mr. Harris. The prosecution countered by suggesting that if the magistrate held the obstruction laws to be unconstitutional, then any peaceful demonstration would be able to block a road, pavement or public place, even if it caused danger to the public.
Such issues call for detailed legal analysis. It was somewhat disappointing that Mr. Wong's consideration of the constitutional arguments was relatively brief. [...]
It is almost certain that the magistrate's verdicts will be challenged and it would not be surprising if the case ended up at the Court of Final Appeal. When this happens, the political issue concerning the Falun Gong's treatment will not have gone away. The higher courts have, in other cases, demonstrated a willingness to stand up for human rights. The Falun Gong issue will be a particular test for them, as they seek to strike the right balance between freedoms and public order. The judges can be expected to subject the legal issues to more detailed analysis, and it is important that political considerations do not get in the way.
In the meantime, renovation work is reducing the size of the pavement outside the liaison office, making it less easy to hold a demonstration which does not cause an obstruction. As Mr. Haynes, no doubt with a wry smile, said: "One advantage is there will be no more cases like this."