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 summons Myanmar envoy after border clashes
- A dozen villages in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district have been affected by the violence
DHAKA: Bangladesh on Tuesday summoned the ambassador of Myanmar after civil war gun battles in the neighboring country spilled over the border, wounding a Bangladeshi girl.
Heavy fighting in Myanmar’s Rakhine state this month has involved junta soldiers, Arakan Army fighters and Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army militia guerrillas.
Authorities said around a dozen villages in Bangladesh’s Cox’s Bazar district have been affected by the violence.
Twelve-year-old Huzaifa Afnan was struck by a bullet, while a Bangladeshi fisherman had his leg ripped off after stepping on a landmine near the frontier.
“Bangladesh reminded that the unprovoked firing towards Bangladesh is a blatant violation of international law and a hindrance to good neighborly relations,” a Foreign Ministry press statement said.
Myanmar’s ambassador to Bangladesh, U Kyaw Soe Moe, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry on Tuesday, where he expressed sincere sympathy to the injured victims and their families.
“My daughter was supposed to go to school, but she is on a ventilator,” Afnan’s father Jasim Uddin said. “My heart is bleeding for my baby girl.”
More than a million Rohingya have fled their homes in Myanmar, many after a 2017 military crackdown, and now eke out a living in sprawling refugee camps just across the border in Bangladesh.
ARSA, a Rohingya armed group formed to defend the persecuted Muslim minority, has been fighting the Myanmar military, as well as rival Arakan Army guerrillas.
On Monday, Bangladeshi border forces detained 53 ARSA fighters who had crossed the frontier.
Bangladeshi police officer Saiful Islam, commander of the local Teknaf station, said all detainees were being held in jail, except one fighter who was receiving hospital treatment for bullet wounds.
“These individuals have a history of living in the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar and crossing into Myanmar,” Islam told AFP.
