Hong Kong’s top court has dismissed a legal challenge against a law barring calls to boycott the city’s “patriots-only” elections, ruling that the prohibition is necessary to counter “organised campaigns” seeking to undermine the establishment following the enactment of the national security law. In a judgment delivered on Wednesday, five Court of Final Appeal judges unanimously found that criminalising incitement to undermine elections was essential to further Beijing’s objective of ensuring...

Veteran Hong Kong filmmaker and actor Raymond Wong Pak-ming has begun serving his five-month prison sentence for insider trading after relinquishing his bail. The 80-year-old told West Kowloon Court on Wednesday that he would spend time behind bars while awaiting an appeal in the High Court. Wong, a prominent figure in Hong Kong’s film industry for decades, was convicted last month of sharing insider information regarding Transmit Entertainment, a television series production company formerly...

A jobless man accused of killing his girlfriend in a Hong Kong village house and illegally disposing of her body four years ago has claimed he mistakenly beat her to death while trying to help her lose weight by keeping her awake at night. Ng Ka-sing, 29, is standing trial at the High Court for allegedly murdering his 30-year-old partner Yip Tsz-ching at their 700 sq ft flat in Galore Garden in Hung Shui Kiu between April 28 and 29, 2022. The defendant had offered to plead guilty to the lesser...

A Hong Kong court has dismissed a HK$12 million (US$1.53 million) claim against actress Cecilia Cheung Pak-chi by her former agent, finding that she had never signed an agency contract she allegedly breached nor received advance payment for her services. Cheung, 46, was involved in a legal battle with Asia Entertainment Group (AEG) president Samuel Yu Yuk-hing for allegedly reneging on her promise to appear in several films produced by the now-liquidated company between 2011 and 2019, pursuant...

An owner of a Hong Kong private tutorial centre has admitted to molesting five boys and filming some of the offences, claiming he did so out of curiosity. Yu Hey-tsit, 46, pleaded guilty at the High Court on Tuesday to 15 counts of indecent assault and four of making child pornography. The crimes came to light on August 24, 2023, after a 12-year-old boy confided in his grandmother that Yu had kissed and groped him on multiple occasions at the now-closed Prime Solid Learning Education Centre in...

A Hong Kong court has awarded HK$6.29 million (US$802,698) in damages to a dancer left paralysed after being struck by a falling giant screen during a concert by Cantopop boy band Mirror four years ago. In a written judgment on Monday, the District Court ruled that Mo Li Kai-yin was entitled to substantial damages from his employer, Studiodanz, under the Employees’ Compensation Ordinance after suffering from “catastrophic” injuries in the accident at Hong Kong Coliseum on July 28, 2022. Judge...

A Hong Kong court has issued an arrest warrant for a British tourist who allegedly jumped bail after being charged with vandalising self-check-in kiosks at the city’s airport earlier this year. Youcef Bennoui, 35, failed to appear at West Kowloon Court on Monday to answer charges of criminal damage and possession of a Part 1 poison in connection with the disturbance he allegedly caused at Hong Kong International Airport in the early hours of February 16. Prosecutors told the court that Bennoui,...