V
!
1
DELUJ
RECEIVED
10 JUL 1990
amnesty
ternational
INTERNATIONAL SECRETARIAT,
1 Easton Street, London WC1X 8DJ.
United Kingdom.
ние он 15
Sir David Hilson
Governor
Office of the Governor
Government House
Victoria
Hồng Kông
"CEIVED IN
อย
TG ASA 19/90.7
1.
1990
д
SENT BY TELEFAX
10 July 1990
29
Dear Sir David,
I am writing to express concern about the charges brought against several prominent political activists in Hong Kong who led small-scale peaceful processions and sit-ins in January and February 1990 and were later charged, under the Summary Offences Ordinance, with using loud- speakers and collecting money in public without permits during these protests.
A
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We understand that at least seven people have been charged with such offences since May 1990 thus several months after the alleged offences were committed and that they include the Reverend FUNG Chi Wood, Sha Tin District Board Member, whose case was heard in court a few days ago: TSANG Kin Shing, a Democratic Platform leader; and five senior members of the United Democrats of Hong Kong (UOHK): YEUNG Sum. Vice-chairman of the UDHK, LEE Wing Tat, Kwai Tsing District Board Chairman, WONG Pik Wan, leader of Hong Kong Christian Institute, LAU Chin Shek, director of the Christian Industrial Committee, and HO Chun Yan, former President of the Hong Kong Affairs Society.
The last six are due, we understand, to go on trial on 13 July. From 10 to 17 February 1990, they led, in turn, a sit-in which lasted for seven days near the Star Ferry Terminal, as a protest against proposals in the Basic Law about the political system in Hong Kong.
The information we have received indicates that no more than twenty people took part in the sit-in protest each day, that the protest was entirely peaceful and created no disturbance of public order and, furthermore, that there were cordial and regular communications each day between leaders of the sit-in and the police. We understand that no warning or indication was given by the police to the leaders of the protest that they would be charged for using a loud-hailer or collecting money -- for which they received summons only some three months later.
Both this and other factors, such as the fact that those charged are prominent advocates of democracy in Hong Kong, and the timing of the prosecution 30 long after the event, but just before the anniversary of the 4 June massacre in Beijing, has given cause for concern that the prosecution was politically motivated, in line with a promise given last year by the Hong Kong Political Advisor to the Hong Kong Branch of the New
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