Hong Kong court convicts photographer for 'insulting' Chinese national anthem

By Anadolu staff

ANKARA (AA) - A Hong Kong court on Wednesday found a local photographer guilty of "insulting" the Chinese national anthem.

Cheng Wing-chun is the first person to be convicted under Hong Kong’s national anthem law, according to the South China Morning Post newspaper.

Cheng has been convicted for replacing the anthem with the protest song “Glory to Hong Kong” in a video of star fencer Edgar Cheung Ka-long being awarded a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.

The court ruled the use of the anti-government tune was an insult to the Chinese national anthem “March of the Volunteers” and amounted to a breach of the ordinance enacted in June 2020.

The “Glory to Hong Kong” was widely used by pro-democracy protests that started in Hong Kong in June 2019 against a bill to extradite suspects to China, following clashes with police.

Despite the formal withdrawal of the bill on Oct. 23, 2019, the protesters decided to continue the protests, demanding "democratic reform."

The government is seeking to ban the promotion of the song by way of a civil injunction.