An elderly Hong Kong pro-democracy activist will plead not guilty to displaying an unauthorised banner atop one of the city’s peaks last year, local media has reported. Chan Ki-kau, 76, appeared at Kowloon City Magistrates’ Courts on Friday for a pre-trial hearing. He stands accused of violating the Country Parks and Special Areas Regulations over displaying a pair of Chinese-language banners at the summit of Lion Rock on September 28, 2023. Better known as “Grandpa Chan,” the activist held two scrolls with a Chinese couplet penned by writer Lu Xun on that day. The banners read: “Fierce-browed...
Hong Kong Free Press
A Hong Kong civil servant who was denied residency in Taiwan due to “security risks,” has lost a legal challenge against that decision in a Taipei court, with a judge saying that his role with the Hong Kong government meant there was a higher chance he was a spy for Beijing. According to a judgement by the Taipei High Administrative Court, the civil servant, who has a Taiwanese partner, applied for residency in Taiwan in November 2022. The island’s National Immigration Agency rejected the application, however, because of perceived risks that the applicant could “harm national interests, public...
Hong Kong Free Press
The landlord of a private low-rent housing estate has said it would seek to overturn a Hong Kong court’s dismissal of a bid to evict elderly residents who refused to move out of their flats ahead of the planned redevelopment of the complex. The move came after Hong Kong’s District Court on Thursday dismissed the Hong Kong Settlers Housing Corporation’s (HKSHC) application to litigate, saying that most of the 13 Tai Hang Sai Estate residents involved were working-class elderly people who were not represented by lawyers. The court said it had a duty to stop litigants from “taking advantage” of t...
Hong Kong Free Press
A foreign press club in Hong Kong has called on the government to improve transparency over media worker visa denials, after Bloomberg said Chinese journalist Haze Fan’s application was rejected without explanation. The Immigration Department should conduct an “urgent review” of its decision to deny Fan a work visa, The Foreign Correspondents’ Club (FCC) in Hong Kong said in a statement on Thursday. Bloomberg’s Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait told staff via an internal notice on Monday that the media company had wanted Fan to join the Hong Kong bureau. But after her visa was denied by the ci...
Hong Kong Free Press
A government-appointed task force has proposed introducing minimum living standards for Hong Kong’s notorious subdivided flats as part of government efforts to phase out “low-quality” units in a city with some of the world’s least affordable housing. Chief Executive John Lee, who introduced the plan in his last Policy Address, received the taskforce’s report on Thursday. He said he had proposed additional items based on recent consultation findings, and asked for a further report to be submitted in a month. “I hope to build a system to eradicate substandard subdivided flats in Hong Kong and im...
Hong Kong Free Press
A Hong Kong man accused of writing “seditious” graffiti on bus seats is set to indicate his plea next month in the city’s third case under a new security law. His lawyer has told the court he did not expect it to go to trial. Chung Man-kit appeared before Chief Magistrate Victor So at the West Kowloon Magistrates Courts on Thursday afternoon. The 29-year-old has been detained for almost two months pending trial since he first appeared in court on June 25. He faces three counts of “doing with a seditious intention an act or acts that had a seditious intention” and two counts of “destroying or d...
Hong Kong Free Press
A team from Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority (HA) has visited Kuala Lumpur to try to recruit Malaysian nurses in hopes of easing a significant manpower shortage in Hong Kong’s public hospitals, with 2,559 nurses resigning or retiring last year. The authority hosted recruitment briefing sessions on Monday and Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur, introducing a new policy to allow non-locally trained nurses to work in Hong Kong, according to a statement on Wednesday. “The response was very positive, with many participants expressing interest in coming to Hong Kong for career development,” Simon Tang, the HK’s ...
Hong Kong Free Press
A Hong Kong jury has unanimously found a Swedish businessman guilty of raping his former domestic worker. Patrik Tobias Ekstrom, 35, was convicted on one count of rape and one count of non-consensual buggery on Thursday in a case relating to an incident in October 2022 involving his then-domestic worker, identified only as X. The seven-member jury reached a unanimous decision after deliberating for almost five hours. Upon hearing the verdict, Ekstrom appeared calm. His bail was revoked and he was remanded in custody pending sentencing. Under Hong Kong law, rape and non-consensual buggery are p...
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong’s second largest public housing provider has announced a 10 per cent rent rise as it faces a rising repair bill for ageing estates. The Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS), an independent and non-profit organisation which operates 20 rental estates citywide, announced on Wednesday it had approved the increase. “Well-off tenants” – those whose income and assets exceeded certain thresholds – will start paying the new rents in October, while the others will be exempt until January. The new measures will see tenants in Group A estates, which cater to low-income families, pay an extra HK$230...
Hong Kong Free Press
Hong Kong’s corruption watchdog has arrested seven people linked to a listed company for suspected fraud following a cross-border operation involving Macau authorities. The Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) said in a press release on Wednesday that it mounted an operation with Macau police as well as with Hong Kong’s market regulator, the Securities and Futures Commission. The watchdog arrested seven people allegedly involved in fictitious transactions and false accounting amounting to HK$120 million. Among them were the company’s chairperson and an executive director. “The inve...
Hong Kong Free Press
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