HONG KONG: A judge in Hong Kong jailed six policemen on Thursday for harassing homeless people, following a rare criminal conviction of law enforcement in the Chinese financial hub.
Judge Kathie Cheung sentenced the police officers to prison terms ranging from 25 to 41 months over multiple charges of “perverting the course of justice.”
The charges are related to a 2020 incident in which the officers raided the tents of two homeless Vietnamese men, Nguyen Van Son and Le Van Muoi, arresting them on suspicion of possessing a knife as well as illegal drugs.
In a judgment issued last month, Cheung found that the officers had deliberately covered surveillance cameras near the tents.
Footage of the incident showed the empty hands of one of the homeless men during his arrest, contradicting the written account by police that he had been holding illegal drugs.
“I found the sole reasonable inference is that they had decided to trump up a charge against [Le],” Cheung said in her judgment.
The judge said the officers had “abused their powers ... breached the public trust in the police and damaged the public confidence in the judicial system.”
Following his arrest, Le was held in a psychiatric center, where he died.
Homelessness is a growing problem in the wealthy city, with the official number of people living on the streets rising from 595 to 1,470 over the past decade.
Being chased away or having their belongings seized were among the major concerns of homeless people, according to a 2021 survey, but officials were seldom held accountable.
Hong Kong policemen jailed over harassment of homeless
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Hong Kong policemen jailed over harassment of homeless
- Judge Kathie Cheung sentences police officers to prison terms ranging from 25 to 41 months
- The charges are related to a 2020 incident in which the officers raided the tents of two homeless Vietnamese men
Bangladesh arrests journalist for ‘anti-state activities’
DHAKA: Bangladesh police on Monday said they had arrested a veteran journalist for alleged “anti-state activities,” accused of promoting the banned party of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina.
The arrest, which comes ahead of key elections in February, the first vote since the student-led uprising last year that overthrew the autocratic government of Hasina and her Awami League, sparked concerns from a key rights group.
Anis Alamgir was arrested under the Anti-Terrorism Act along with three others, accused of spreading propaganda in talk shows and social media posts, and conspiring to rehabilitate the Awami League.
The interim government banned Hasina’s Awami League in May under amendments to the Anti-Terrorism Act — a move Human Rights Watch condemned as “draconian.”
“Anis Alamgir has been arrested on accusations of conspiring against the state,” said Kazi Mohammad Rafiq, officer-in-charge of Uttara West police station in the capital Dhaka.
Three others were named in police documents alongside Alamgir, including actress Meher Afroz Shaon.
Rights organization Ain o Salish Kendra condemned the arrest.
“Using a law, originally enacted to prevent terrorist activities, against freedom of expression and journalism is against the fundamental principles of a democratic state,” it said in a statement.
“It’s an attack on freedom of expression.”
Press freedom in Bangladesh has long been under threat, and Hasina’s tenure was marked as one of the worst periods for media freedom in the South Asian nation.
Bangladesh ranks 149 out of 180 countries for press freedom in 2025, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), up from 165 a year before.
But RSF also notes that over 130 journalists were subjected to “unfounded judicial proceedings” and five detained, in the “political purge that followed the fall of Sheikh Hasina.”
Those listed as detained pending trial are Ekattor TV’s Farzana Rupa, Shakil Ahmad and Mozammel Babu, as well as freelancer Shahriar Kabir and Shyamal Dutta, editor of Bhorer Kagoj newspaper.
