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5 Hong Kong speech therapists had been convicted of sedition this week after they printed a collection of kids’s books {that a} court docket mentioned was anti-government.
Reuters reports that the therapists “had been accused of publishing three image books, that includes cartoons of sheep and wolves, which authorities prosecutors alleged had unfold separatism and stirred up hatred and opposition to the federal government.”
In a single e-book, based on Reuters, wolves wish to occupy a village and eat the sheep, who in flip begin to struggle again.
The books referenced actual events, together with Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests in 2019 and the pro-democracy protesters who fled Hong Kong by speedboat in 2020 and had been captured by Chinese language authorities.
“What the defendants have accomplished to the youngsters aged 4 and above was in truth a brain-washing train with a view to guiding the very younger youngsters to just accept their views and values,” wrote the choose who convicted the therapists. The choose added, “Youngsters might be led into the assumption that the [People’s Republic of China] Authorities is coming to Hong Kong with the depraved intention of taking away their house and ruining their comfortable life with no proper to take action in any respect.”
In line with the BBC, the therapists had been charged underneath a rarely-used British colonial-era sedition legislation somewhat than the 2020 national security law that has been used to crack down on different political crimes in Hong Kong.
The therapists had been sentenced to 19 months in jail. One of many group’s attorneys suggested that the 5 might be out of jail in 31 days as soon as deductions had been made. That they had already spent over a 12 months in jail previous to this week’s ruling.
In a statement launched after the conviction, human rights group Amnesty Worldwide known as for the speedy launch of the therapists, saying the usage of “archaic” sedition legal guidelines was a “brazen act of repression” and needs to be abolished.
“Writing books for kids isn’t a criminal offense, and trying to teach youngsters about latest occasions in Hong Kong’s historical past doesn’t represent an try and incite insurrection,” the assertion learn.
“I do not remorse my selection, and I hope I can at all times stand on the aspect of the sheep,” said Melody Yeung, one of many therapists.
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