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Koo Sze-yiu, 75, had planned to carry a homemade wooden coffin to China’s Liaison Office in the city on the opening day of the Games on February 4, but national security police raided his apartment and arrested him that day before any protest could take place.
Koo had denied a charge of “attempting or preparing to commit an act or acts with seditious intention,” public broadcaster RTHK reported.
Prior to his sentence, Koo had been held in custody for more than five months after being denied bail on national security grounds.
Hong Kong’s sedition law was introduced by the British colonial government in 1938, outlawing “hatred or contempt or disaffection” toward the monarch and the colonial administration. It remained on the statutes after the city was handed over to China in 1997.
Unused for decades, the law has been revived by Hong Kong prosecutors amid Beijing’s broad crackdown on civil society following the city’s 2019 pro-democracy protests.
In one high-profile ongoing case, five…
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