The pan-democrat primary election mechanism for #LegCo2020 is being announced right now, with voting expected to take place on July 11 and 12. But there's a problem.
Au Nok-hin said today that he felt shame at the difficulties in mobilising everyone to establish polling stations
Polling stations could include private spaces, yellow shops or district councillors' offices. For example, before the March 2018 by-election, some polling stations were set up outdoors with a valid letter of no objection
Now, of course, this could violate the group gathering ban
Some councillors said that if their offices are used, they are concerned that the Home Affairs Department would see this as a violation of rules and would not allow them to claim expenses for that month. Some would still be willing, but sufficient equipment is another challenge.
To give an illustration of scale, the pan-democrats' threshold for a primary election in, for example, New Territories West, would be 48,000 voters, and for one polling station to handle 1,000 voters would already be considered excessive.
Au Nok-hin freely admits that finding polling stations is not easy and it's currently "the biggest challenge facing us."
That might be an eye-opener amid all the stories in the past few months about the difficulties in agreeing on a primary election format.
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On Monday, the trial of two former editors of the defunct Stand News will begin, in what is Hong Kong's first sedition case involving a media organisation in several decades.
The pair faces a maximum jail sentence of two years if convicted.
@thewitnesshk has posted an analysis of the judgment in the sheep-and-wolves picture books case, which is the most recent interpretation the courts have offered for HK's sedition law.
Edward Wong, who ran the discontinued FB page Law Lay Dream, said that courts generally don't engage in political discussions, but since the sedition offence itself involves political elements, that discussion was part of the sheep-and-wolves judgment.
As promised, here is a timeline of the events described in the 30-page summary of facts read out at Andy Li's court hearing yesterday.
This is hopefully a more reader-friendly format than the original court document, which isn't organised chronologically. aaronmcn.substack.com/p/timeline-jim…
Most of the events occurred before the enactment of the national security law.
In the six weeks between its enactment and Andy Li's arrest, the most consequential initiative he worked on was the campaign to persuade foreign countries to end their extradition agreements with HK.
We already know that Andy Li's conviction must be based on his conduct after June 30, 2020, and the events before that can only serve as a background.
What isn't clear yet is to what extent that background will add to the weight of his conduct for the purpose of sentencing.
The trial of six people who pleaded not guilty to rioting in Yuen Long on July 21, 2019, continued today.
The District Court judge spent considerable time picking apart the prosecution's opening statement, and it's worth documenting that in a thread: thestandnews.com/court/%E5%85%8…
The judge first asked why the prosecution cited the events of July 16, when some #antiELAB protesters held a film screening in Yuen Long, and some people with opposing views confronted them.
The prosecution said this was the background to July 21, and the two events are related.
At the prosecution's suggestion that one event led to the other, the judge said: "How? Are you saying the group of people on July 16 are the same people on July 21?"
The prosecution said after July 16, messages appeared online calling for a public meeting in Yuen Long on July 21
Jimmy Lai's offer to make no public statements as a bail condition failed to satisfy the new judge, because it only accounted for one possible offence under the national security law, whereas the bail provision of the NSL refers to any act capable of damaging national security
Jimmy Lai's lawyer further offered to cut off the Internet at Lai's home and regulate visitors in terms of the number of people coming and the length of their visits.
The government, meanwhile, brought up Lai's financial transactions and his latest arrest last week.
The judge, who was assigned to this case after the Court of Final Appeal ruling on the NSL's bail provision, gave weight to the idea that Lai's financial means and connections could make it more likely that he would endanger national security if granted bail.
Some proposed amendments to the Immigration Ordinance are now getting even more media attention.
So it's worth sharing the HK government's explanation for the change, which some have described as a potential means to prevent anyone from leaving Hong Kong. legco.gov.hk/yr20-21/englis…
Section 3 of the Immigration (Amendment) Bill 2020, the section which has provoked this controversy, can be read below:
First and foremost, the section ought to be read together with whatever regulations come later as a result of it, which we haven't seen yet and can't pre-judge
But even without knowing what's coming later, the government's explanation asks us to read the (b) subsection together with the (a) subsection.
According to the government, this amendment is intended to fulfil HK's obligations under the Convention on International Civil Aviation
Democratic Party lawmaker Ted Hui has reportedly been arrested this morning. Three police officers arrived at his home to do a search. The reason is as yet unclear.
Hui’s party colleague @cheuktinglam has also been arrested. According to @HKDemocrats, the arrests relate to a case from last year at Tuen Mun Park.
More significantly, @HKDemocrats reported the police as saying that Lam Cheuk-ting is accused of rioting on July 21, 2019.
Police officers reportedly told @cheuktinglam he is suspected of participating in a riot on July 21, and separately, on July 6, 2019, the day a protest was held at Tuen Mun Park, he is suspected of conspiring with others to damage property and obstructing the course of justice.