Man jailed for 10 months after throwing ‘seditious’ leaflets from public housing flat

“A Hong Kong man who threw anti-government leaflets from his public housing flat has been sentenced to 10 months in prison after pleading guilty to committing seditious acts. West Kowloon Law Courts Building. File photo: Kelly Ho/HKFP. Raymond Wong appeared at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday to receive a 10-month jail sentence handed down by Chief Magistrate Victor So for two counts of “doing with a seditious intention an act or acts that had a seditious intention,” local media reported . Wong, a 55-year-old construction worker, admitted to throwing the leaflets from his unit in On Tat Estate, Kwun Tong, on two occasions in October 2024 and December 2025. He was arrested in April, and the following month, he pleaded guilty to the charges – an offence under Hong Kong’s homegrown national security law, also known as Article 23. In mitigation, he apologised to his girlfriend and his daughter, as their public housing unit would be reclaimed by the government due to his offence. Citing a psychological report, Wong’s lawyers said that the defendant did not know how to control the resentment that had built up from losing his full-time job after the 2019 protests and the Covid-19 pandemic. ‘Premeditated and planned’ Noting that the leaflets were thrown after National Day two years ago and before last year’s Legislative Council (LegCo) elections, Magistrate So said that Wong’s actions were “premeditated and planned to some degree.” On October 2, 2024, Kwun Tong district councillor Hsu Yau-wai reported 41 sheets of paper to the police after finding them on the podium of Lai Tat House at the estate. The papers had slogans on them saying “kill police” and derogatory remarks about mainland Chinese people. On December 5 last year, two days ahead of the “patriots only” LegCo polls , a property manager found papers scattered near that same area, with written slogans such as “Liberate Hong Kong, do not vote.” Police officers at a Tai Po polling station for the 2025 LegCo elections, on December 7, 2025. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP. Wong’s lawyers said on Tuesday that his methods were “primitive” and had limited impact compared with online posts. So said he accepted the defence’s argument but pointed out that Wong explicitly incited people to kill police officers, mainland Chinese, and government officials. Wong incited enmity towards the police and referred to mainland residents with “derogatory” and “dehumanising” language, and his use of the slogan “Liberate Hong Kong,” considered secessionist under Beijing’s national security law in Hong Kong, also challenged national sovereignty, the magistrate added. Calls to boycott the LegCo polls also amounted to an effort to undermine public confidence in the city’s electoral system, So said. The turnout for last year’s polls was the second-lowest on record, at 31.9 per cent. Beijing overhauled the city’s electoral system in 2021 to ensure that only those deemed patriotic enough can run. The move reduced democratic representation in the legislature, tightened control of elections and introduced requirements for candidates to obtain nominations from a small circle of political elites.

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