Four men have pleaded guilty to rioting during the siege of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) campus amid the anti-extradition protest and unrest seven years ago.

Cheung Chung-yiu, 24; Cheung Chin-ming, 29; Chan Chun-hei, 22; and Chan Yuen-ming, 33, appeared at the District Court on Monday morning to enter their pleas.

The four defendants were not prosecuted when they were first arrested in 2019 and 2020. However, they were re-arrested in June 2024 and charged with rioting at PolyU between November 14, 2019 and November 20, 2019.

The events at the Hung Hom campus were one of the most violent episodes during the protests and unrest in 2019, with protesters setting fires with petrol bombs as they faced off against police.

A fifth defendant, Lai Chun-kit, was not present. He has not attended hearings since October 2024, and an arrest warrant has been issued for him, The Witness reported.

According to the prosecution, CCTV footage captured the defendants’ behaviour during the riot. Cheung Chung-yiu was seen moving barriers to block a footbridge, while Cheung Chin-ming and Chan Chun-hei were filmed taking containers from a laboratory.

Chan Yuen-ming was seen walking around the university campus and taking a large flask and two bottles with him.

Mitigation

The four defendants had initially planned to plead not guilty and go forward with a trial, the court heard, but later changed their minds.

During mitigation, Cheung Chung-yiu’s lawyer said that the defendant had gone abroad to study before he was re-arrested in 2024, while Cheung Chin-ming’s lawyer told the court that his client had supported victims of the Wang Fuk Court fire in its aftermath.

A legal representative for Chan Chun-hei said the defendant was only 16 at the time of the incident. He worked in the construction sector and became a father at 21, his lawyer said, adding that he regretted what he had done when he was younger.

Chan Yuen-ming’s lawyer said his client was tricked into working at a scam farm in Thailand, returning to Hong Kong in 2022 after his family paid a ransom. He suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, the lawyer said.

The lawyer added that Chan Yuen-ming was sentenced to 18 years and five months in prison for a drug trafficking offence, and that he stands to face a long time in prison.

The four defendants will be sentenced on June 8. Rioting is punishable by up to 10 years’ imprisonment, although jail terms handed down at the District Court are capped at seven years.

Two Hong Kong men accused of conspiring to incite people to riot during the 2019 protests and unrest have had their case moved to a higher court, where they face a maximum sentence of seven years’ imprisonment.

Ng Tsz-lok, who is unemployed, and photographer Chan Wai-leong appeared at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts on Thursday.

The two men have been remanded since they were charged in October over their alleged role in the anti-extradition protests six years ago. Prosecutors have accused them of manufacturing and providing weapons to protesters.

The pair have been charged with conspiring to incite others to take part in a riot, with the date of the offence being October 22 to 23, 2019.

Ng was among a group of defendants acquitted by a High Court jury in September of alleged involvement in three bomb plots in places including a hospital and a car park between November 2019 and March 2020.

With the completion of handover procedures, Magistrate Victor So announced on Thursday the transfer of the case to the District Court.

The maximum penalty at the District Court is seven years’ imprisonment. At the magistrates’ court, the maximum penalty is two years, or three years when a defendant is convicted of more than one offence.

The case will be heard at the District Court on June 2 for the pair to confirm whether they will plead guilty or not guilty, So said.

Ng also faced an additional charge of “incitement to take part in a riot” on November 14, 2019. The prosecution said on Thursday it had changed the charge to “conspiracy to incite others to take part in a riot” and added an additional day – November 15, 2019 – to the offence.

The details of the amended charge specified that the target of Ng’s incitement was an unknown individual and somebody by the name of Lee Tsz-ying – transliterated from Cantonese, as read out in court by the prosecution.

The prosecution also added a new charge for Ng, accusing him of inciting others to riot on different dates, between October 19 and November 8, 2019.

Protests erupted in June 2019 over a since-axed extradition bill. They escalated into sometimes violent displays of dissent against police behaviour, amid calls for democracy and anger over Beijing’s encroachment. Demonstrators demanded an independent probe into police conduct, amnesty for those arrested and a halt to the characterisation of protests as “riots.”

The movement died down in 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic and a national security law imposed by Beijing authorities in June that year.

Two Hong Kong women convicted of money laundering have been jailed for over three years for transporting over HK$280 million cash from mainland China to Hong Kong between 2018 and 2019.

Luo Xiaoping was sentenced to four years and ten months at the District Court, while Xiang Yurong was jailed for three years, local media reported.

The two were convicted after a trial, in which they pleaded not guilty to a total of four counts of money laundering.

Luo was accused of bringing cash through border checkpoints, with over 100 instances during which she carried more than HK$1 million per trip, the court heard. She was accused of smuggling around HK$270 million cash.

Xiang brought money into Hong Kong an average of 10 times per month during the period of the offence, carrying around 200,000 to 300,000 RMB each time. She transported cash to Hong Kong as many as three times in a single day.

In total, the two of them handled over HK$280 million of illicit cash, the court heard.

District Court Deputy Judge Lily Wong said she accepted the fact that Xiang and Luo were just “mules,” but their offence inevitably brought a negative impact on Hong Kong and mainland China’s financial systems.

The two were arrested in September 2019, but were only charged in April 2023.

The defense argued that there was a delay in prosecution. They said that customs officers could have stopped Luo much earlier, yet they only took action after she had successfully transported cash into Hong Kong numerous times.

However, Judge Wong disagreed with this argument, describing Luo as “acting with a gambler’s mindset” and committing the crimes out of pure greed, Ming Pao reported.

According to the Organized and Serious Crimes Ordinance, “dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of indictable offence,” or “money laundering,” is punishable by a maximum penalty up to 14 years’ imprisonment and a fine of HK$5 million.

Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department said in a statement on Thursday that this is the first money laundering conviction involving travellers transporting large amount of cash-related items across the border since the Cross-boundary Movement of Physical Currency and Bearer Negotiable Instruments Ordinance came into effect in July 2018.

Under the ordinance, anyone carrying over HK$120,000 in cash into Hong Kong must declare the sum to customs officers.

A transgender alum has sued her former secondary school over “discriminatory” policies that barred her from having long hair.

Oscar Fung, who studied at Lung Kung World Federation School Limited (LKWFSL) Lau Wong Fat Secondary School in Tai Kok Tsui from 2019 to 2025, filed a writ in the District Court on Thursday, local media reported.

According to the writ, Fung experienced gender dysphoria at the age of 14 when her parents separated.

During the Lunar New Year holiday in 2024, Fung decided to grow out her hair. However, she was reprimanded at school after the break because her hair exceeded the length permitted for male students and was accused of violating school rules.

The writ stated that Fung was scolded by two teachers for almost 30 minutes one day, with the teacher threatening to withdraw her from science competitions she was representing the school in.

Fung felt embarrassed and angry as other students witnessed the scene. She was then sent to the disciplinary teacher, who accused her of “cosplaying as a girl” and told her to cut her hair.

The writ also mentioned that Fung had filed a complaint with the Equal Opportunities Commission, but it was dismissed.

‘Injury to feelings’

Fung alleged in the writ that the school had breached the Sex Discrimination Ordinance, as female students were allowed to grow long hair while male students were not.

She asked the court to declare the school’s rules discriminatory and to order it to pay damages for “injury to feelings,” a term under the ordinance.

The writ also stated that one of the school’s vice principals, Pang King-fai, had twice dismissed the Sex Discrimination Ordinance.

During a meeting with Fung before the 2023-24 school year ended, Pang said the school was not subject to the Sex Discrimination Ordinance.

The second instance was during a ceremony on the first day of school for the 2024-25 academic year in September 2024. Pang told pupils publicly that male students’ hairstyles did not fall under the ordinance, and any challenges would be handled through disciplinary measures.

According to the writ, another vice principal, Li Wing-yee, told Fung that if she did not abide by the school’s rules, she should change schools.

A hearing for the case has been scheduled for July 15, according to the Judiciary’s website.

A Hong Kong political commentator charged with disclosing details of a national security investigation will stand trial in October.

Wong Kwok-ngon, known by his pen name Wong On-yin, appeared at the District Court on Tuesday.

Judge Stanley Chan said the pre-trial review would take place behind closed doors on August 11, and the trial would begin on October 9.

Before the hearing began on Tuesday, Judge Chan told those in the public gallery that police would take down their names if they called out words of encouragement for Wong after the hearing ended.

Chan noted that at the court mention last month, after the hearing ended and he had left the room, people made comments of support to the defendant.

Wong, 72, has been detained since his arrest in December for allegedly divulging in a YouTube video details of enquiries made by police during a national security investigation.

The offence falls under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, a homegrown security law known as Article 23. It was added to the ordinance in May as part of subsidiary legislation, and Wong is the first to be charged under the new law.

Wong is also charged with sedition over videos posted on YouTube between January 3 and December 6 last year. He plans to plead not guilty to both charges.

The defendant, who continues to represent himself, told the court he had dropped his legal aid application.

Asked by the judge whether he had legal knowledge for self-defence, Wong said he had “three law degrees” and was confident of handling the case.

The prosecution has set aside eight days for its case and plans to go through around 30 commentary videos on Wong’s YouTube channel. The transcripts of the videos run to more than 900 pages.

The prosecution added that it had lined up six witnesses, all police officers.

Wong was taken in by national security police in December, on the same day he was set to appear at a press conference about the fatal Wang Fuk Court fire, which had occurred days before. He was then released.

He was arrested four days later on suspicion of “prejudicing of investigation of offences endangering national security” and “doing an act that has a seditious intention with a seditious intention.”

A former administrator at an international kindergarten has been jailed for two years and one month after pleading guilty to accepting over HK$640,000 in bribes to help secure admissions for children applying to the school.

Fatima Rumjahn, an ex-administrator at the English Schools Foundation’s (ESF) Wu Kai Sha International Kindergarten, appeared at the West Kowloon Law Courts Building on Monday to receive her sentence.

She was charged nearly four years ago with taking money from 13 parents and a middleman in exchange for moving children up the kindergarten’s admissions waitlist.

Handing down the sentence, Deputy District Judge Amy Chan said Rumjahn “took advantage of the parents’ wish to provide better education for their children and proactively offered to help them jump the queue.”

Rumjahn pleaded guilty in October 2024 and agreed to be a prosecution witness in the hope of receiving a lighter sentence. She testified against the 13 parents and the middleman, who was helping his business partner’s daughter secure admission.

The 14 other defendants were found guilty in February and sentenced in early April to up to one year and two months.

According to the prosecution’s case, Rumjahn accepted bribes while working at the kindergarten between September 2018 and August 2021, promising to give the children priority admission. Those children had already passed their admission interviews but were at the bottom of the waitlist, the court heard.

Judge Chan also ordered Rumjahn to pay back the HK$640,000 to ESF as compensation.