HK$116,000 ordered seized from Sheep Village publishers

Staff reporter

The High Court has authorized the government to confiscate HK$116,000 from the General Union of Hong Kong Speech Therapists, whose registration was revoked in 2021 under the Trade Unions Ordinance.

The union's registration was revoked after five members were sentenced to 19 months in prison for sedition after publishing a series of children's books titled Sheep Village.

At the High Court yesterday, the Department of Justice applied to confiscate all the funds owned by the union, citing it as an offense endangering national security.

The department referred to the implementation rules for Article 43 of the national security law drafted by Beijing, which said that the secretary for justice can apply to confiscate property that are considered benefits for behaviors endangering national security.

The secretary can also apply to confiscate properties intended to be used to endanger national security or fund those behaviors.

"The DoJ not only relies on the three children's books the union published, but the union president's remarks during a radio interview," the lawyer for the department said.

"The interview mentioned that their members are young and well-educated, and support the 'social movement,' while they will also incorporate confrontation against the government into their lifestyle," the lawyer added.

Following the department's argument that the union's assets could fund national security crimes, Judge Andrew Chan Hing-wai ruled in favor of the government.

The department will confiscate HK$110,682 in the union's bank account and HK$6,202 handed over by then-treasurer of the union Samuel Chan Yuen-sum, while earmarking HK$50,000 to be used for liquidating the union.

The government earlier appointed as liquidator Lina Cheung Wan-kwan, deputy registrar of the Registry of Trade Unions under the Labour Department.

Cheung did not send a representative to the court yesterday.

Former union president Lai Man-ling, 27, vice president Melody Yeung Yat-yee, 29, secretary Sidney Ng Hau-yi, 30, treasurer Samuel Chan Yuen-sum, 27, and commissioner Fong Tsz-ho, 28, were found guilty of conspiracy to print, publish, distribute, display and/or reproduce seditious publications.

They published three children's books telling stories about a "sheep village" - a metaphor for Hong Kong, and another village of brutal wolves, implying the mainland.

The DoJ argued that the stories promoted separatism and provoked anti-China moods, while also calling for foreign intervention.