Jolovan Wham Kwok Han, a 42-year-old activist, was convicted for an unlawful assembly at the main entrance of the former State Courts building on 13 December 2018 at around 9am.
The State Courts is a Prohibited Area under the Public Order Act, with strict security protocols in place.
He was found guilty earlier today (7 January) for an offence under the Public Order Act.
Recap
Jolovan Wham was attending a court hearing in 13 December 2018 for a criminal defamation case involving Terry Xu, the editor of The Online Citizen (TOC) and De Costa Agustin, a contributor of TOC.
Wham stood on the steps outside the building, holding on to a piece of paper with the worlds “Drop the charges against Terry Xu and Daniel De Costa” on it.
CCTV footage was showed in the courtroom showing Wham holding up the sign for about 15 seconds while being photographed.
Two passers-by was also passing by at the time while he was holding the sign but didn’t pay attention to it.
Wham then kept the sign in his bag and entered the building; he then posted a public photo of it on his social media accounts.
The photo was then reposted onto a forum on HardwareZone by a netizen and a police report was then anonymously made by a member of the public, against the post.
Trial
Seven witnesses were called to the stand during the trial last year, which included three police officers who were the Investigating Officers (IOs) on Wham’s case since 2018, at different times.
They testified that Wham had applied for a police permit to stage a one-man assembly outside the State Courts on 9 December 2018 at 9pm, but it was rejected.
Wham didn’t apply for a public assembly permit on 13 December and during the trial, Wham’s defence argued that he was posing for a photo and not staging a protest or public assembly.
The police officers testified that Wham’s actions did not pose a threat to public order and he didn’t disturb anyone – but his holding of the sign still constitutes an offence, according to the second IO of the case, Assistant Superintendent of the Police (ASP) Pek Shun Fu.
Jolovan Wham is due to be sentenced next month.
Images source: Jolovan Wham Facebook