The National Security Department of the Hong Kong Police Force conducted an enforcement operation yesterday (August 30) in Kowloon and the New Territories and arrested a man and a woman, aged 41 and 28 respectively, for being suspected of "doing with a seditious intention an act or acts that had a seditious intention", contravening Section 24 of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance. Police conducted searches at the arrested persons’ residences with a court warrant, where light boxes, materials for making light boxes and relevant electronic communication devices were seized. The arrested persons are now being detained for investigation.
Investigation revealed that the arrested woman was suspected of publishing fraudulent “last words” of the deceased in relation to a recent suicide case, while the arrested man was suspected of persistently placing so-called “memorial light boxes” in various places, with contents provoking hatred towards the Central Authorities and the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
The enforcement action is still on-going. Police remind the public that "doing with a seditious intention an act or acts that had a seditious intention" is a serious offence. Offenders shall be liable on first conviction to imprisonment for seven years. Members of the public are urged not to defy the law.
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