After China passed the highly controversial National Security Law (NSL) for Hong Kong in 2020, amid a sea of protests, it was always believed that free speech will be culled in the former British colony. The fears have come true as four government employees have been arrested by the national security police on charges of posting seditious messages online.
Reportedly, of the four arrested, two men, aged 28 and 29 were administrators and part of an online group called Civil Servant Secrets. The pair worked at the Home Affairs Department and Office of Government Chief Information Officer as a clerk and system analyst respectively.
According to the national security police, the arrested individuals were publishing and promoting posts that tried to divide the population of Hong Kong.
“They were suspected of publishing posts on that social media group to disseminate seditious messages that promote feelings of ill will and enmity between different classes of the population of Hong Kong.” said the Police.
After police arrested the duo, they investigated their social media footprint and arrested two paramedics from Fire Services Department on account of fraud, after carrying out search operations in house of seven men’s house and offices.
However, experts privy to the matter suggested that the four locals were simply arrested because they attempted to criticise the current setup, compromised the Chinese influence.
The law aims to cull dissent and free speech
As reported by WION, the contentious national security bill was fast-tracked into legislation by the authoritarian Xi Jinping regime.
The bill, which is now a law in Hong Kong, attempts to punish crimes of secession, sedition, and collusion with foreign forces. When the bill was passed, despite ordinary Hong Kong folks taking to the streets for months, it was described by the pro-democracy activists as ‘the end of the Hong Kong that the world knew before’.
Read more: Hong Kong passes law that can censor even past films, to safeguard ‘national security’
It is pertinent to note that ever since the draconian law was implemented one in five arrests in Hong Kong have been made on charges of sedition by the national security authorities.
(With inputs from agencies)
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