|HT|
A Hong Kong pro-democracy activist, who was dubbed ‘Captain America 2.0’ for wielding the superhero's shield at protests, was jailed on Thursday for nearly six years under the country's stringent national security law after a court ruled that he chanted a banned slogan and promoted independence from China. The development comes at a time when Hong Kong authorities are multiplying their crackdown on pro-democracy and anti-China protests using the sweeping security law drafted by Beijing to set stark limits on free speech.Ma Chun-man, 31, known locally as Captain America 2.0 for the Marvel character he’d sometimes dressed as while protesting, was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison for incitement to secession. The district court ruled last month that his use of slogans, including “liberate Hong Kong, the revolution of our times” violated the vaguely worded security law. Chun-man, however, had pleaded not guilty to the charges he faced.
The judge, while handing down the sentence on Thursday, said it didn't matter whether the accused, Ma Chun-man, had used violence or attacked law and order officers or not. What matters is that the accused had performed the action (chanting the slogan) with an intention to “incite others to secession”, the judge noted.
(Except for the headline and the pictorial description, this story has not been edited by THE DEN staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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