Ku Sze-yu was arrested on February 4, the opening day of the Winter Olympics, after announcing plans to protest outside the Beijing local government office in Hong Kong. A Hong Kong activist suffering from terminal cancer was jailed today for inciting a standoff over a protest against the hosting of the Beijing Winter Olympics, which he had planned but was ultimately foiled by his preventive arrest.
Ku Sze-yu was arrested on February 4, the opening day of the Winter Olympics, after announcing plans to protest outside the Beijing local government office in Hong Kong.
The following day the 75-year-old was formally charged with “attempting to commit or preparing an act or acts with intent to stop” – a colonial-era offense – and was denied bail.
On July 12, Judge Peter Law jailed Koo for nine months on the grounds that this was a “serious” case requiring a deterrent sentence. The long-time activist appeared in court unrepentant and said “imprisonment is part of my life”. “I don’t mind being a fighter of the democratic movement and I don’t mind being a witness for democracy and human rights,” he said.
Koo is the latest activist to be jailed as part of Hong Kong’s crackdown on dissidents. Beijing imposed a national security law following pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2019. Although incitement to stand is a law dating back to the colonial period, courts today treat it with the same severity as actions that endanger national security.
Ku’s defense attorneys argued that his planned protest was an exercise of free speech and that the incitement to stand charge is unconstitutional. But the judge ruled that the slogans on Ku’s posters saying “down with the Communist Party and the one-party dictatorship” were aimed at overthrowing the regime.
A lifetime activist
Born in the Chinese city of Zhongshan, Qu has spent most of his life in activism — from his opposition to the Portuguese colonial government in Macau to his opposition to Beijing’s crackdown on Hong Kong. He has been jailed at least 11 times in Hong Kong since 2000 and was diagnosed with end-stage rectal cancer in 2020.
His last stint in prison ended in July last year after he served five months for violating a government ban on protesters covering their faces during protests in 2019. My sacrifice is nothing. The veteran campaigner appeared unmoved today after his sentencing and told the court he had no regrets.
“The Chinese government has destroyed freedom and democracy in Hong Kong,” he said, and denounced Beijing’s treatment of dissidents in the mainland, implying opaque trials and years in prison.
“Compared to what they’ve been through, my sacrifice is nothing,” he said.
