A Hong Kong court on Saturday remanded a radiation therapist in custody after he was found guilty of online incitement to attack police officers during the anti-government protests in 2019.
Deputy District Judge Veronica Heung Shuk-han ruled Yeung Sheung-wa, who was arrested in 2022, was guilty of incitement to wound with intent over a comment he made on the Reddit-like platform LIHKG, popular among protesters during the unrest.
The comment, posted by Yeung in December 2019, asked for platform users’ views on whether protesters should attack or even kill encircled police officers, among other options, in a thread discussing possible tactics for evading capture.
Heung on Saturday said Yeung’s case involved three elements, which were whether the defendant wrote the comment, if it constituted an act of illegally inciting others to injure police officers, and the author’s intentions.
The judge said on the second element that most of the discussion on the chat thread focused on how protesters could avoid capture or help those who were detained, with the ultimate goal being to successfully free those detained.
“The comment by the defendant was to raise a question about what they wanted to do to police after they have successfully encircled the officers,” Heung said in a written judgment.
“It uses the form of a question to guide readers to think and raises a suggestion.
“This reflects the meaning and reasonable use of the comment involved in the case, which is to bring up the topic of maliciously hurting police officers, which no one had previously mentioned in the discussion agenda.”
The judge also discussed Yeung’s intentions and highlighted that prosecution evidence showed LIHKG at the time was filled with posts and comments that were anti-government and antagonistic towards police.
Heung added that the defendant should have been aware of the hostility towards police among accounts on the platform as he was a frequent user of the site.
The defendant also wrote his comment at a time when platform users were discussing whether, or how, to use force to evade capture by police, she said.
“In a situation where the intended audience can have their emotions stirred up easily, the defendant decided to make the comment involved in the cases on the thread,” Heung said.
“It is obvious that he had the intention to incite those who browsed the comments, including the owner of the post, to maliciously injure police officers.”
The judge added she was certain that Yeung’s comment constituted inciting others to illegally and maliciously harm police officers and that had been his intention when he made it.
The case was adjourned until September 5 for pleas in mitigation and Yeung was remanded in custody.
Inciting others to wound with intent is punishable by up to seven years in jail when the case is heard in the District Court.
