Hong Kong student at Japanese university jailed for sedition after she created 13 social media posts calling for city’s independence

West Kowloon Court on Friday dismissed a defence suggestion to suspend Mika Yuen Ching-ting’s sentence after it considered her intent to “incite others to reject the lawful governance of the central government and induce dissatisfaction among people”.

Chief Magistrate Victor So Wai-tak, approved by the chief executive to hear national security proceedings, emphasised there was nothing in the sedition legislation that would allow the court to adopt a lenient approach to sentencing.

He added her actions “could indoctrinate innocent people and risk inciting them to put [her] words into actions”.

So insisted a deterrent sentence remained the only appropriate course, even though Yuen had not written any illegal statements since May last year.

He added the first post dated back to September 2018 and that most of the pro-independence statements were made available for public viewing.

The post was written in Japanese, but the magistrate said the passage, together with the defendant’s political stance, could be understood by anyone in Hong Kong who was familiar with the language.

He emphasised the defendant had many opportunities to take back her words but did not do so.

Hong Kong student pleads guilty to sedition over online posts, most made abroad

“After considering the defendant’s circumstances, her risk of reoffending and all the submissions advanced by the defence, I do not take the view that there are valid grounds to suspend the relevant penalty,” So said.

He jailed Yuen for two months, knocking one month off in recognition of her guilty plea.

Her prosecution led to questions as to whether the city’s sedition law was applicable to acts done overseas, as only two of the 13 offensive posts were published while she was in the city.

But defence lawyers admitted in a hearing last week that their client could be held liable as she had not removed the content and it remained available for public access until her arrest.

Hong Kong student at university in Japan granted bail on sedition charge

She had also added captions that insisted Hong Kong independence was “the only way out” on photos attached to her Facebook profile.

The court was told other posts included a shared tweet that called the Chinese Communist Party a “terrorist organisation” and a statement by Yuen that appealed to others to witness the downfall of the authorities.

Sedition is punishable by up to two years’ imprisonment for a first conviction.

It is not among the offences criminalised by the national security law, but it has been recognised by the Court of Final Appeal as capable of endangering the safety of the country.

Prosecutors can request that sedition cases be heard only by judges selected by the chief executive and defendants can face higher hurdles to getting bail.

The proposed sanction does not cover the police officers in charge of the investigation into Yuen.