National security law: Hong Kong slams 'irresponsible' US, EU comments after sentencing of first person convicted under legislation
Hong Kong has slammed "irresponsible" remarks by the United States and European Union criticising the sentencing of the first person to be convicted under the city's national security law.
The war of words erupted after Leon Tong Ying-kit, 24, was jailed for nine years on Friday for riding his motorcycle into a group of police officers last year while flying a flag calling for the city's "liberation".
The former restaurant worker was found guilty of terrorism and incitement to commit secession over his actions carried out on July 1 last year, within hours of the Beijing-imposed law taking effect.
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The flag mounted to the back of Tong's motorcycle carried the slogan "Liberate Hong Kong; revolution of our times", a rallying cry of the 2019 anti-government movement, and which the three-judge panel hearing the case had earlier found as capable of bearing a secessionist meaning.
Hong Kong's No 2 official, Chief Secretary John Lee Ka-chiu, said on Saturday that anyone who attempted to challenge the bottom line of national security would be "setting themselves on fire".
Leon Tong. Photo: Handout alt=Leon Tong. Photo: Handout
Defending the trial, he said Tong's case was heard in open court, and the verdict was based on facts and evidence.
A full investigation would also be launched into threats against the three judges after Tong was found guilty, Lee said.
Following the sentencing, the US State Department said Washington was deeply concerned that Chinese officials were deploying the security law "as a political weapon to silence dissenting voices in Hong Kong and suppress protected rights and fundamental freedoms".
Nabila Massrali, the EU's spokeswoman on foreign affairs and security policy, meanwhile, said the national security law was being used to stifle the city's political pluralism.
She added that the law affected the exercise of human rights and political freedoms in Hong Kong.
In a statement on Saturday evening, a Hong Kong government spokesman hit back, expressing "deep regret and utter dismay at some irresponsible remarks".
"We deeply regret and reject remarks by officials from the US and the EU which were blatantly trampling on Hong Kong's judicial strengths, let alone their usual politically motivated interference in the internal affairs of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China," the spokesman said.
Nabila Massrali, the EU's spokeswoman for foreign affairs and security policy. Photo: Handout alt=Nabila Massrali, the EU's spokeswoman for foreign affairs and security policy. Photo: Handout
He added the authorities were "shocked to hear" the US and EU saying the national security law was "being abused in Hong Kong without any evidence or substantiation".
"We urge the US and EU authorities to respect the rule of law and refrain from making any attempt to influence our courts in exercising their independent judicial power," he said.
Earlier in the day, the foreign ministry's arm in Hong Kong also weighed in, calling on politicians overseas to stop interfering in how the city's courts handled cases in accordance with the law.
A spokesman for the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed his dissatisfaction, saying the comments smeared the security law and the city's rule of law.
This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP).
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