HONG KONG — An appeals court docket on Wednesday granted the Hong Kong authorities’s request to ban a well-liked protest tune, overturning an earlier ruling and deepening considerations over the erosion of freedoms within the once-freewheeling world monetary hub.
“Glory to Hong Kong” was typically sung by demonstrators throughout big anti-government protests in 2019. The tune was later mistakenly performed as town’s anthem at worldwide sporting occasions, as a substitute of China’s “March of the Volunteers,” in mix-ups that upset metropolis officers.
It was the primary time a tune has been banned within the metropolis since Britain handed the territory again to Chinese language rule in 1997.
Critics have mentioned prohibiting broadcast or distribution of the tune additional reduces freedom of expression since Beijing launched a crackdown in Hong Kong following the 2019 protests. They’ve additionally warned the ban may disrupt the operation of tech giants and harm town’s attraction as a enterprise middle.
Decide Jeremy Poon wrote that the composer meant for the tune to be a “weapon,” pointing to its energy in arousing feelings amongst some residents of town.
“We settle for the evaluation of the chief that prosecutions alone are clearly not satisfactory to sort out the acute felony issues and that there’s a compelling want for an injunction,” he mentioned.
He mentioned the injunction was essential to influence web platform operators to take away “problematic movies in reference to the tune” from their platforms. The operators have indicated they’re able to accede to the federal government’s request if there’s a court docket order, he added.
The ban would goal anybody who broadcast or distributed the tune to advocate for the separation of Hong Kong from China. It could additionally prohibit any actions that misrepresent the tune because the nationwide anthem with the intent to insult the anthem.
The tune can nonetheless be performed whether it is for lawful journalistic and educational actions.
Failure to adjust to the court docket order could also be thought of as contempt of court docket and may very well be answerable for a high quality or imprisonment.
Authorities have beforehand arrested some residents who performed the tune in public underneath different offenses, resembling taking part in a musical instrument in public with out a allow, native media reported.
As of midafternoon on Wednesday, “Glory to Hong Kong,” whose artist is credited as “Thomas and the Hong Kong individuals,” was nonetheless out there on Spotify and Apple Music in each English and Cantonese. A search on YouTube for the tune additionally displayed a number of movies and renditions.
Google mentioned in an e-mail to the AP that it was “reviewing the court docket’s judgment.” Spotify and Apple didn’t instantly remark.
The U.S. remained critically involved concerning the erosion of protections for human rights and basic freedoms in Hong Kong after the ruling, State Division spokesperson Matthew Miller mentioned. “And the choice to ban this tune is the most recent blow to the worldwide repute of a metropolis that beforehand prided itself on having an unbiased judiciary defending the free alternate of data, concepts and items,” he mentioned in Washington.
George Chen, co-chair of digital observe at The Asia Group, a Washington-headquartered enterprise and coverage consultancy, mentioned it might be most sensible for tech corporations to limit entry to the content material in query in a sure area to adjust to the order.
Chen mentioned he hoped such bans is not going to develop into “the brand new regular” and set up a precedent. “It will get individuals actually nervous about how free Hong Kong’s web might be like tomorrow,” he mentioned.
Beijing imposed a sweeping nationwide safety legislation in 2020 to quell the months-long unrest. That legislation was used to arrest lots of the metropolis’s main pro-democracy activists. In March, town enacted a home-grown safety legislation, deepening fears that town’s Western-style civil liberties could be additional curtailed. The 2 legal guidelines usually goal extra critical felony acts.
After the judgement was handed down, Lin Jian, a spokesperson for China’s International Ministry, mentioned stopping anybody from utilizing the tune to incite division and insult the nationwide anthem is a essential measure for town to keep up nationwide safety.
Hong Kong’s Secretary for Justice Paul Lam insisted the injunction was not aimed toward proscribing the conventional operation of web service suppliers. He mentioned the federal government would ask the suppliers to take away associated content material in accordance with the injunction.
Lam argued that the acts lined by the ban may very well be constituted as felony offenses even earlier than the court docket order, and that the scope of the injunction was “extraordinarily slender.”
However Eric Lai, a analysis fellow at Georgetown Heart for Asian Legislation, mentioned that though judicial deference to the chief on nationwide safety issues is widespread in different jurisdictions, the court docket has didn’t steadiness the safety of residents’ basic rights together with free expression.
“It disappointingly agreed to make use of civil proceedings to assist the implementation of nationwide safety legislation,” he mentioned.
Human rights group Amnesty Worldwide described the injunction as a “mindless assault” on freedom of expression and a violation of worldwide human rights legislation.
“Right this moment’s attraction victory for the federal government – after a decrease court docket dominated towards it final 12 months – is a worrying signal of the authorities’ rising unwillingness to respect human rights and uphold their obligations,” mentioned Amnesty Worldwide’s China Director Sarah Brooks.
Brooks known as on authorities to finish makes an attempt to stifle rights within the identify of nationwide safety.
The federal government went to the court docket final 12 months after Google resisted stress to show China’s nationwide anthem as the highest end in searches for town’s anthem as a substitute of the protest tune. A decrease court docket rejected its preliminary bid final July, and the event was broadly seen as a setback for officers in search of to crush dissidents following the protests.
The federal government’s attraction argued that if the chief authority thought of a measure essential, the court docket ought to permit it until it thought of it should don’t have any impact, in keeping with a authorized doc on the federal government’s web site.
The federal government had already requested faculties to ban the protest tune on campuses. It beforehand mentioned it revered freedoms protected by town’s structure, “however freedom of speech just isn’t absolute.”
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Related Press author Zen Soo contributed to this report
