On 5 June 2023, the Secretary for Justice applied to the Court of First Instance for an injunction and an interim injunction to restrain four specified criminal acts in relation to a song commonly known as “願榮光歸香港” or “Glory to Hong Kong” (“Song”). On 28 July 2023, the Court of First Instance dismissed the Secretary for Justice’s application for the interim injunction.
The Secretary for Justice appealed to the Court of Appeal. Upon hearing the Secretary for Justice and the Amici Curiae on 19 December 2023 and 24 February 2024, the Court of Appeal handed down judgment on 8 May 2024 allowing the Secretary for Justice’s appeal and granted the interim injunction in the following terms:
“1. | Until trial or further order of the Court, there be an injunction restraining the Defendants and each of them, whether acting by themselves, their servants or agents, or otherwise howsoever, from doing any of the following acts:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
2. | Without limiting the generality of paragraph 1, the acts of publishing the items via the Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) set out in the Schedule hereunder constitute acts being restrained by paragraph 1(a) and/or 1(b); | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
3. | The Defendants and each of them shall take such action forthwith to cause any of the acts as set out in paragraph 1 to cease; | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
4. | For the avoidance of doubt, this Order does not prohibit any lawful acts in connection with the Song, whether its melody or lyrics or in combination, conducted for purposes such as academic activity and news activity, provided that they do not involve any of the acts as set out in paragraph 1(a) to (d); | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
5. | In this Order: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
6. | There be liberty to apply.” |
Copies of the relevant documents are posted below.