January 24, 2025 - The Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation (CFHK) welcomes the introduction of the Hong Kong Sanctions Act in the U.S. House of Representatives under the bipartisan leadership of Representative Young Kim and Representative Jim McGovern.
The bill would require the president to determine within 180 days of its passage whether individuals included in the bill qualify for sanctions under existing U.S. legislation, including the Global Magnitsky Human Rights Accountability Act, the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019, the Hong Kong Autonomy Act, and the President’s Executive Order on Hong Kong Normalization. The list of Hong Kong officials named in the bill includes 48 officials, judges, and prosecutors at all levels who have actively participated in the ongoing political persecution of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists. Some egregious offenders on the list include:
Justice Secretary Paul Lam Ting-kwok, who was appointed in June 2022 to oversee all dissident prosecutions. He has repeatedly leveraged the National Security Law (NSL) to deny trials by jury to political defendants. He is one of the key driving forces behind placing HK$1 million bounties on 19 overseas Hong Kongers as well as the Article 23 security legislation enacted in March 2024.
High Court Judge Esther Toh Lye-ping, who presided over some of the most-watched NSL cases, including the trials of Jimmy Lai, the Hong Kong 47, and the city’s first NSL case against Tong Ying-kit who was sentenced to a total of nine years in prison.
District Judge Stanley Chan Kwong-chi, who is currently overseeing the trial against seven innocent victims of pro-government violence for “rioting” in the Yuen Long metro station in July 2019. He has given unreasonably long jail sentences to dozens of political activists for “sedition” and “rioting.” In 2022, he sentenced Jimmy Lai to five years and nine months in prison for fraud for a lease violation.
District Judge Kwok Wai-kin, who often makes biased, pro-Beijing political statements in his reasons for sentencing. He once praised a defendant who stabbed three peaceful pro-democracy protesters.
Anthony Chau Tin-hang, the lead prosecutor in many political cases related to the 2019 pro-democracy protests as well as the NSL cases above. He filed appeals against most of the defendants' bail requests, keeping dozens of them detained for over 1,000 days before conviction.
In 2023 and 2024, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) and the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition Between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party sent two letters to the Biden administration calling for targeted sanctions on the Hong Kong and CCP officials for eroding Hong Kong’s rule of law and democracy, abusing human rights, and facilitating transnational repression against overseas Hong Kongers.
Jonathan Stivers, U.S. Director at the CFHK Foundation, said: "It is long past time for the U.S. government to impose sanctions on Chinese and Hong Kong government officials who we know are implementing repressive policies and imprisoning pro-democracy activists. It is inexcusable that no Chinese or Hong Kong officials have been sanctioned since 2021 for repression in Hong Kong despite the intensifying crackdown. We commend Representatives Young Kim and Jim McGovern for their leadership and call on Congress to pass this legislation as soon as possible and work with the new administration to fully implement the sanctions provisions of the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act that were just extended in the previous Congress."
Frances Hui, Policy and Advocacy Coordinator at the CFHK Foundation, wanted by the Hong Kong authorities with a HK$1 million bounty, said: "Since the 2019-2020 pro-democracy movement, the Hong Kong judiciary has been weaponized to suppress dissent, dismantle freedoms, and enable Beijing’s crackdown on basic rights. These judges and prosecutors along with Hong Kong officials have actively played key roles in silencing and jailing activists, journalists, and ordinary citizens exercising their fundamental rights. The Hong Kong Sanctions Act represents a critical step in addressing the erosion of judicial independence in Hong Kong and holding these bad actors accountable. The people of Hong Kong need to know they are not forgotten.”