Native residents sing a theme tune written by protesters “Glory to Hong Kong” at a shopping center in Hong Kong on Sept. 11, 2019. An appeals court docket Wednesday, Could 8, 2024 granted the Hong Kong authorities’s request to ban a preferred protest tune, overturning an earlier ruling and deepening considerations over the erosion of freedoms within the once-freewheeling international monetary hub.
| Photograph Credit score: AP

An appeals court docket on Wednesday granted the Hong Kong authorities’s request to ban a preferred protest tune, overturning an earlier ruling and deepening considerations over the erosion of freedoms within the once-freewheeling international monetary hub.

“Glory to Hong Kong” was typically sung by demonstrators throughout large anti-government protests in 2019. The tune was later mistakenly performed as the town’s anthem at worldwide sporting occasions, as an alternative of China’s “March of the Volunteers,” in mix-ups that upset metropolis officers.

It was the primary time a tune has been banned within the metropolis since Britain handed the territory again to Chinese language rule in 1997.

Critics have stated prohibiting broadcast or distribution of the tune additional reduces freedom of expression since Beijing launched a crackdown in Hong Kong following the 2019 protests. They’ve additionally warned the ban would possibly disrupt the operation of tech giants and harm the town’s enchantment as a enterprise heart.

Decide Jeremy Poon wrote that the composer supposed for the tune to be a “weapon,” pointing to its energy in arousing feelings amongst some residents of the town.

“We settle for the evaluation of the chief that prosecutions alone are clearly not satisfactory to deal with the acute prison issues and that there’s a compelling want for an injunction,” he stated.

He stated the injunction was crucial to steer web platform operators to take away “problematic movies in reference to the tune” from their platforms. The operators have indicated they’re able to accede to the federal government’s request if there’s a court docket order, he added.

The ban would goal anybody who broadcast or distributed the tune to advocate for the separation of Hong Kong from China. It could additionally prohibit any actions that misrepresent the tune because the nationwide anthem with the intent to insult the anthem.

The tune can nonetheless be performed whether it is for lawful journalistic and educational actions.

Failure to adjust to the court docket order could also be thought of as contempt of court docket and may very well be accountable for a superb or imprisonment.

Authorities have beforehand arrested some residents who performed the tune in public beneath different offenses, similar to taking part in a musical instrument in public with no allow, native media reported.

As of midafternoon on Wednesday, “Glory to Hong Kong,” whose artist is credited as “Thomas and the Hong Kong individuals,” was nonetheless accessible on Spotify and Apple Music in each English and Cantonese. A search on YouTube for the tune additionally displayed a number of movies and renditions.

Google stated in an e mail to the AP that it was “reviewing the court docket’s judgment.” Spotify and Apple didn’t instantly remark.

The U.S. remained severely involved concerning the erosion of protections for human rights and basic freedoms in Hong Kong after the ruling, State Division spokesperson Matthew Miller stated. “And the choice to ban this tune is the most recent blow to the worldwide status of a metropolis that beforehand prided itself on having an impartial judiciary defending the free change of data, concepts and items,” he stated in Washington.

George Chen, co-chair of digital follow at The Asia Group, a Washington-headquartered enterprise and coverage consultancy, stated it will be most sensible for tech firms to limit entry to the content material in query in a sure area to adjust to the order.

Chen stated he hoped such bans won’t turn into “the brand new regular” and set up a precedent. “It will get individuals actually apprehensive about how free Hong Kong’s web shall be like tomorrow,” he stated.

Beijing imposed a sweeping nationwide safety legislation in 2020 to quell the months-long unrest. That legislation was used to arrest most of the metropolis’s main pro-democracy activists. In March, the town enacted a home-grown safety legislation, deepening fears that the town’s Western-style civil liberties can be additional curtailed. The 2 legal guidelines usually goal extra severe prison acts.

After the judgement was handed down, Lin Jian, a spokesperson for China’s International Ministry, stated stopping anybody from utilizing the tune to incite division and insult the nationwide anthem is a crucial measure for the town to take care of nationwide safety.

Hong Kong’s Secretary for Justice Paul Lam insisted the injunction was not geared toward proscribing the traditional operation of web service suppliers. He stated the federal government would ask the suppliers to take away associated content material in accordance with the injunction.

Lam argued that the acts lined by the ban may very well be constituted as prison offenses even earlier than the court docket order, and that the scope of the injunction was “extraordinarily slim.”

However Eric Lai, a analysis fellow at Georgetown Middle for Asian Regulation, stated that regardless that judicial deference to the chief on nationwide safety issues is frequent in different jurisdictions, the court docket has didn’t steadiness the safety of residents’ basic rights together with free expression.

“It disappointingly agreed to make use of civil proceedings to help the implementation of nationwide safety legislation,” he stated.

Human rights group Amnesty Worldwide described the injunction as a “mindless assault” on freedom of expression and a violation of worldwide human rights legislation.

“Immediately’s enchantment victory for the federal government – after a decrease court docket dominated in opposition to it final 12 months – is a worrying signal of the authorities’ rising unwillingness to respect human rights and uphold their obligations,” stated Amnesty Worldwide’s China Director Sarah Brooks.

Brooks referred to as on authorities to finish makes an attempt to stifle rights within the identify of nationwide safety.

The federal government went to the court docket final 12 months after Google resisted strain to show China’s nationwide anthem as the highest lead to searches for the town’s anthem as an alternative of the protest tune. A decrease court docket rejected its preliminary bid final July, and the event was broadly seen as a setback for officers in search of to crush dissidents following the protests.

The federal government’s enchantment argued that if the chief authority thought of a measure crucial, the court docket ought to enable it except it thought of it is going to haven’t any impact, in line with a authorized doc on the federal government’s web site.

The federal government had already requested faculties to ban the protest tune on campuses. It beforehand stated it revered freedoms protected by the town’s structure, “however freedom of speech is just not absolute.”