'Dissident's Jailing Is A Warning For Hong Kong'

Civic Party lawmaker Kwok Ka-ki warned on Tuesday that the jailing of mainland dissident Huang Qi, dubbed "China's first cyber dissident", is a warning to those in Hong Kong that people can be locked up for years on flimsy charges under the Xi Jinping regime.

Huang was on Monday sentenced to 12 years in prison for "leaking state secrets" and "providing state secrets to foreign entities".

"The charges imposed on Huang are ridiculous," Kwok said. "This kind of so-called releasing of national secrets to the outside world could be applicable to anyone in Hong Kong. If you set up a web page or a social media page and put on any documents on it, you will [also face] similar treatment."

"This is not only against the core values of Hong Kong, but also the values of the rest of the world," he said.

The lawmaker said by pushing such a hard line, Xi is showing that there is no chance of reform or modernisation possible in China.

Huang had been running a website which reported on local corruption, human rights violations, and other topics considered sensitive by mainland authorities.

The 56-year-old activist has kidney disease and his lengthy prison term has also raised concerns for his health.

Kwok, who is also a medical practitioner, told RTHK's Olivia Tam that this is similar to the case of Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo who died of a liver problem while in custody.

Kwok even described the sentence given to Huang as the signing of a death warrant because of his severe kidney problems.

Around 20 people from the Civic Party and the League of Social Democrats protested outside Beijing's liaison office, demanding the release of Huang.