Detained Hong Kong activist mounts legal challenge against prison’s book ban

A Hong Kong activist detained under the national security law has mounted a legal challenge against a decision by prison authorities to withhold four books from her over allegations the texts had “biased” depictions of social events and promoted “violent resistance”.

Chow Hang-tung’s legal team argued in a written application for a judicial review that the ban was marred by a disproportionate restriction of her freedom to receive and impart information, as well as irregularities in the appeal mechanism.

Chow, 39, is awaiting trial on a charge of inciting subversion in her role as former vice-chairwoman of the now-dissolved Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, the group behind the city’s annual Tiananmen Square vigil.

Among the banned publications was a historical account of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown by 64 then journalists, including now lawmaker Priscilla Leung Mei-fun and Lo Wing-hung, proprietor of online news outlet Bastille Post, who assisted city leader John Lee Ka-chiu during his 2022 election campaign.

Two others were memoirs written by late opposition stalwart Szeto Wah and retired pastor Chu Yiu-ming, a co-founder of the 2014 Occupy Central civil disobedience campaign.