HONG KONG: A senior Hong Kong judge sided with the government on Friday and dismissed the first legal challenge to the city’s newly enacted national security law, which had been brought by a jailed protester.
Ma Chun-man — known as “Captain America 2.0” for carrying a replica of the Marvel superhero’s shield during democracy rallies in 2019 — was imprisoned for “inciting secession” under a national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020.
He had hoped to receive a one-third sentence remission — typically granted to inmates for good behavior — and be released in March.
But the passage of another national security law this year effectively banned remission for people convicted of national security crimes, and Ma’s request for early release was denied.
Ma challenged the decision, but on Friday the court said the new system was “sufficiently precise and certain” for prisoners to know how to earn an early release.
“There is no question of Mr. Ma being subject to any additional or heavier penalty by operation” of the new rules, High Court judge Alex Lee ruled.
“The applicant’s substantive judicial review is dismissed,” said Lee, who is among a pool of jurists selected by Hong Kong’s leader to hear security cases.