【Acrylic Painting by Dennis Tang】
(Paintings and Photos may not be relevant to the incident described)
On 20 November 1951, a fire in Tung Tau Village in Kowloon City of Hong Kong caused over 10,000 victims to be homeless. Officials from Guangdong who aims to offer condolences to the victims were rejected by immigration for their entry and such rejection led to riots and suppression. The People’s Daily subsequently published commentaries and was reissued by the Hong Kong Newspaper Ta Kung Pao. Three responsible persons of Ta Kung Pao was then charged with seditious intention. Two were eventually convicted and fined and the newspaper was suspended for six months. (The target of seditious inention charge was primarilily be the leftists in the colonial-era).
The trial lasted for 15 days in which most of the arguments focused on the accuracy of the translated words and the seditious intention of the article.
Generally speaking, composition of crime shall include criminal intention (Mens rea) and criminal behavior (Actus reus).
