1/ Hong Kong govt has just introduced its repressive and vast Article 23 legislation proposal after a very short, largely performative "consultation period." I'm out of the office this week, but wanted to provide an initial assessment of what stood out to me in my initial read. 2/ Let's start with how this law is going to be interpreted by the courts. Hong Kong law does after all still include many protections for internally-recognized human rights.

Like the NSL, the Article 23 legislation claims at the beginning that “human rights are to be respected” including the Basic Law, the ICCPR, and the ICESCR. This didn’t make any sense in the NSL, which blatantly violated these international human rights conventions, and it doesn’t make sense here.

But a bit further down, they slipped in a pretty big qualification…if any other laws conflict with the Article 23 legislation, they should be interpreted so as to favor A23’s “object and purposes.”

Since these other human rights protections all appear in other laws, this provision renders them largely meaningless. National Security trumps all.

1/ It's late here, but I want to provide quick thoughts on the Hong Kong govt's 110 page Article 23 "national security" legislation release.

My heart sinks reading every page of this. There is no moderation--this law will crush HK's remaining freedoms. sb.gov.hk/eng/bl23/doc/C… 2/ I've long said the worst case scenario for A23 is it adopts China's "state secrets" definition, which is the foundation of China's repressive, secretive regime. Yet that's exactly what this doc proposes--syncing the definition and scope of state secrets with China's.

1/Another explosive report showing how Hong Kong--with govt support--has become a key hub for importing tech from Western countries and then secretly reshipping it to Russia for military use, while Western companies like @TXInstruments look the other way.
bloomberg.com/news/articles/… 2/ Investigative reporter @SheridanAsia of Bloomberg reveals research by @C4ADS showing that millions in semiconductors from @TXInstruments and @ADI_News are being shipped to Russia via third countries, and Hong Kong has become the largest broker for these transactions.

1/ Today marks a new phase in my Hong Kong advocacy—the launch of my Patreon page. As I continue my work to draw global attention to Hong Kong’s fight for justice and democratic rights, I’m now seeking your support. patreon.com/SamuelBickett 2/ From the U.S., I’ve been advocating full time for our cause since my deportation from Hong Kong in March 2022. Until now, I've self-funded most of this work. However, to sustain these efforts long-term, your backing will be invaluable.

1/ This is Kim Chan 陳鑫. He’s the “Mr X” granted anonymity to testify for the prosecution in the Hong Kong 47 trial. He’s a former cop and pro-government propagandist who somehow fooled democrats into thinking he was a changed man. And he’s lying on the stand.

https://twitter.com/hkfp/status/1655717941940215808

2/ Chan testified today that at a May 2020 meeting, Benny Tai proposed to “overthrow” the government. Yet, as Chan’s own secret recordings and the accounts of others present prove, Tai only proposed vetoing the budget to force an election—a guaranteed right under HK’s Basic Law.

Hong Kong courts sentenced Joshua Wong to prison again, this time for doxxing a cop who wrongfully shot a protester. In honor of this ruling, following is a thread in which I also doxx the cop. apnews.com/article/joshua… This is Officer Kwan Kar Wing 關家榮. He’s a traffic cop. How did a traffic cop end up shooting a protester and why did he even have gun in the first place, you ask? Don’t question the wisdom of the Hong Kong Police, people. You’re endangering National Traffic Security.

1/9 The @BrownUniversity China Summit, where professional harasser of activists CY Leung is being honored with a keynote speech, lists 2 financial sponsors: the Bush China Foundation & the China Academy. Both raise serious questions as to where the funding is coming from.

https://twitter.com/jooeysiiu/status/1636050760361295872

2/9 The Bush China Foundation in 2021 took $5 million from the China-United States Exchange Foundation (CUSEF), a “policy group at the center of China’s U.S. influence efforts” with “close ties to Chinese government officials.” axios.com/2021/06/05/sco…

(1/9) Following is a thread about Hongkongers in academia that CY Leung, who @BrownUniversity is honoring with a keynote speech this weekend, has endangered through relentless doxxing, harassment and threats:

https://twitter.com/SamuelBickett/status/1636091404882419722

2/9 Professors: CY Leung called for the arrest of Ching Kwan Lee, a renowned HKUST sociology professor, for her academic work supporting the democracy protests. She was forced to flee the city for the US, and is now based at UCLA.

https://twitter.com/pm_thornton/status/1418475708406542336

Having been in Hong Kong’s prisons, there’s no doubt in my mind that Ng’s punishment is political retaliation against a defendant for choosing to fight the charge.

In prison, there are many, many rules, but many are not enforced. Sharing… (1/6)

https://twitter.com/XinqiSu/status/1623296420559085569

…supplies, keeping food for later, reading during slow work times—all are against the rules but ignored. CSD knows that enforcing all these rules would make life intolerable and cause revolts. But they’re kept on the books to be used only to target disliked prisoners. (2/6)

1/ This is a superb oral history compiled by the US Congressional Executive Commission on China recounting Beijing’s efforts to crush Hong Kong’s civil society. Unusual for a government report, it speaks almost entirely through the personal experiences of Hongkongers.

https://twitter.com/ceccgov/status/1577303180286779394

2/ The report quotes 33 activists & members of the public, including @chungchingkwong, @patrickpoon, @limlouisa, @FermiWong, @williamnee & myself. It tracks the city’s descent from a place with a thriving, boisterous civil society to one where no political dissent is tolerated.

CEOs from US firms Goldman, JP Morgan, Citi, Blackstone & Morgan Stanley will attend the Hong Kong govt's “Financial Leaders' Forum.” If there was any doubt that the govt is holding the forum as propaganda to whitewash their repressive policies, just read HKMA’s statement today. The American CEOs will have lunch with Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee, who will give a keynote speech. Lee has been sanctioned by the US as a human rights offender, so I guess he won’t be picking up the bill.

1/4 「根據2020年訂立的國安法，北京正式成立了一個平衡的司法系統，以控制某些政治案件。我們已有大量文獻記載了這個系統的壞處，但較少人提及傳統普通法法庭的崩壞…samuelbickett.substack.com/p/713?utm_sour… 2/ …有些低層次的示威案件可能仍可避過政權的關注，但一些較著名的政治犯，雖然只是無辜地在普通法法庭被控以非法集結、暴動和煽惑等罪行，但他們與國安法的被告幾乎一樣，都是沒有甚麼希望…

1/4 Today, I testified at the Congressional Executive Commission on China @CECCgov about my experience with the broken Hong Kong justice system. You can watch my oral testimony (along with my co-witnesses) & read my longer written testimony on my Substack. samuelbickett.substack.com/p/my-testimony… I proposed 3 policy measures that I believe would be both realistic and effective for the US Government to take.

1. Sanction low-level prosecutors and police to send a message and deter their colleagues from continuing to ignore their duty to act independently from politics.

(1/6) I was at Hong Kong’s first violent police crackdown on June 12, 2019, and documented what I saw on camera. For today’s third anniversary, I’ve sharing an account of what I saw, along with photos and videos I took that day. samuelbickett.substack.com/p/june-12-2019… (2/6) The police violence was shocking: entirely unnecessary & clearly planned in advance. I was close to the rear police formation & took pictures and videos of them, including of their commander, a UK citizen named Justin Shave. More pics & videos in the article.

1/4 Yesterday, my lawyers filed another application to the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, presenting the irrefutable evidence of my innocence one last time. I'm sharing a few highlights in these images, but the full filing is here: drive.google.com/file/d/1Tym22z… 2/4 The application focuses on the "errors"--to put it extremely charitably--by Magistrate Arthur Lam & Judge Esther Toh in outright ignoring the detailed videos of police lies & criminality in the incident. I wrote about Magistrate Lam's misconduct here: samuelbickett.substack.com/p/how-a-magist…

1/ 1000-lawyer US law firm @DavisPolkReg is sending their Asia Chair to speak at a Hong Kong govt propaganda event “to commemorate the 2nd anniversary of the National Security Law." It's organized by the Hong Kong DOJ, which is led by a US-sanctioned official, Teresa Cheng. 2/ The NSL event’s theme is “Thrive With Security.” The NSL, as Martin Rogers knows well, has nothing to do with national security and everything to do with creating an extrajudicial process to imprison the Communist Party’s perceived enemies.

1/A personal story about how the CCP is projecting its censorship abroad: Last week, I sat for an hour interview about my case with a US-based podcast for Legal/Compliance professionals. But you'll never hear the episode, because it was canceled within an hour after wrap. 2/I received an email in which the host explained that she had spoken to her boss in her corporate healthcare company (the podcast is her side gig), who had told her not to release the episode, because it might affect the company's business in China.

Wow, OK. Long thread. What happened to this man is not an isolated incident, but a deliberate, longstanding policy by the Police Force to use freezing conditions as a form of torture to put pressure on detainees. I know, because they did the same thing to me.

https://twitter.com/hkfp/status/1453522142079987714

I was arrested on 7 Dec, 2019, and detained in Wanchai Police Station until 9 Dec. I was held in a cell set to 1-2°C with no warm clothing and just a thin, hole-filled blanket. I say "set," because even though it was chilly outside that day, the cell was much colder.