Five linked to publication of picture books allegedly glorifying unrest

Hong Kong police arrested five people on Thursday for publishing seditious children's picture books, and attempting to sway young minds with anti-government doctrines.

Those arrested－two men and three women aged between 25 and 28－are senior members of the General Union of Hong Kong Speech Therapists and were detained on suspicion of conspiring to publish seditious publications, Steve Li Kwai-wah, senior superintendent of the Hong Kong police force's national security department, told a media briefing on Thursday afternoon.

Li said that from June last year to March this year, the union published a trilogy that allegedly glorified unlawful behavior during the city's recent social unrest and attempted to instigate hatred against the government and judiciary.

The three books dealt with the social unrest in 2019, the 12 fugitives who fled Hong Kong and the healthcare worker strikes during the pandemic, Li said. The 12 fugitives were portrayed as heroes standing up to the authorities.

Criticizing the union members for taking advantage of their profession to instill anti-government doctrines, Li said the books aroused particular police concern because they targeted children of kindergarten age.

"If children were fed these twisted stories at a young age, it's likely that they would not have a correct understanding of what is right and wrong, and become potential future criminals," Li said.

He urged parents in possession of the books to throw them away immediately.

Following the arrests, the national security department froze about HK$160,000 ($20,600) of the union's assets.

According to Section 10 of Hong Kong's Crimes Ordinance, anyone publishing seditious work without a lawful excuse may face up to two years' imprisonment.

Also on Thursday, four former senior staff members of the now-closed Apple Daily newspaper were denied bail by West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts on charges of colluding with foreign countries or external forces to endanger national security.

The four charged are the newspaper's former executive editor-in-chief Lam Man-chung, former associate publisher Chan Puiman, and ex-editorial writers Fung Wai-kong and Yeung Ching-kee. They appeared in court Thursday morning.

On Wednesday, the national security department arrested and detained Lam, while also revoking bail for the other three, who had been released last month.

Since June, eight people who held senior positions at Apple Daily and its parent company, Next Digital, have been arrested on similar charges in different police operations. The newspaper's founder, Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, is currently in jail for his role in several unlawful assemblies.

Judge So Wai-tak, chief magistrate of the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts, rejected the defendants' applications for bail.

The case was adjourned to September 30 for further investigation by the prosecution.

The arrests came a day after the city saw several people sentenced to jail in cases linked to the social unrest.

On Wednesday, the District Court sentenced a warehouseman to five years in prison after he was found to be in possession of 100 liters of gasoline at the warehouse where he worked in November 2019. The amount was enough to make 300 petrol bombs.