Hong Kong protests: fitness trainer becomes first person to be sentenced for violating ban on online material inciting violence
- The 35-year-old man was sentenced to 21 days in prison, suspended for 12 months, for his two inflammatory posts on Facebook during the 2019 civil unrest
- The case is the first sentence to be handed down for flouting a court order granted to the secretary for justice on October 31, 2019
A fitness trainer in Hong Kong has been given a suspended jail term for encouraging the killing of police officers during the 2019 civil unrest in the city, becoming the first person to be sentenced for flouting a court ban on online content that could incite violence.
The High Court on Tuesday sentenced personal trainer Edward Sung Ho-tak, 35, to 21 days in prison, but suspended the term for 12 months, after he admitted to posting two inflammatory messages on Facebook in November 2019. He was also ordered to pay HK$180,000 in costs.
The case marks the first time someone has been sentenced for violating the injunction, which was granted to the secretary for justice on October 31, 2019, during the city’s social unrest.
The injunction barred the wilful dissemination, circulation and publication of any material or information that “promotes, encourages or incites the use or threat of violence, intended or likely to cause unlawful bodily injury to any person … or unlawful damage to any property within Hong Kong”.
