Telegram channel operator gets 6½ years’ jail for inciting violence, vandalism during 2019 Hong Kong protests
- Ng Man-ho, 27, sentenced on seven incitement charges that stemmed from 42 provocative posts published on ‘SUCK’ channel between October 2019 and June 2020
- Judge notes that defendant, though not committing the crimes himself, was just as culpable as the actual offenders
Ng Man-ho, 27, was sentenced in the District Court on Thursday on seven incitement charges that stemmed from 42 provocative posts published on the messaging platform’s “SUCK” channel between October 2019 and June 2020. At its peak, the channel attracted nearly 110,000 subscribers before a police crackdown in August 2020.
Delivering the sentence at West Kowloon Court, Deputy District Judge Peter Hui Shiu-keung said the grave nature and prolonged period of the offences called for a substantial prison term.
In particular, Hui found the act of encouraging others to paralyse traffic and join unauthorised sit-ins and marches during the 2019 turmoil to be more serious than leading opposition politicians and activists calling for road obstructions during the 2014 Occupy movement.
“Even though the posts were not published by the defendant, he, as the sole owner and one of the administrators of the channel, was entitled to amend or remove the content in question,” Hui said.
