Jackie Chen
 | You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Chinese. (June 2025) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
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Jackie Chen | |
|---|---|
陳虹秀 | |
| Born | Chen Hung-sau Hong Kong |
| Education | |
| Occupation | Social worker |
Jackie Chen Hung-sau (Chinese: 陳虹秀) is a Hong Kong social worker and activist. She was convicted of rioting by the Hong Kong government on 11 March 2025 for trying to mitigate tensions by urging police to exercise restraint during the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests. She is remanded for sentencing on 9 April 2025.
Early life and education
[edit]Chan was born into a middle-class family and has a younger brother.[1] Her father was a civil servant, while her mother worked as a health worker.[1] She attended a band-one high school and later enrolled at the Chinese University of Hong Kong to study information technology.[1] During her university years, she became involved in volunteer services, which sparked her interest in becoming a social worker.[2] After graduating with a Bachelor of Engineering, she entered the University of Hong Kong to study social work, earning a Master of Social Work in 2003.[1][3] She went on to become an assistant principal at a children's home, focusing on children with special educational needs.[1] In 2017, after her father died of cardiac arrest, she recognized a need for health services in Hong Kong and shifted her focus to serve in that field.[1] She earned a Master of Applied Psychology from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University during her time in pending appeal review.[1]
Career
[edit]Social activism
[edit]She was convicted of rioting by the Hong Kong government on 11 March 2025,[4] for trying to mitigate tensions by urging police to exercise restraint[5] in a protest in 2019. Chen had initially been cleared of the rioting charge in 2020 by district court judge Sham Siu-man, on the grounds that the prosecutors had failed to provide enough evidence to make out any case against her, and that her conduct and speech did not amount to taking part in an unlawful assembly, let alone a riot.[4][6] But the Hong Kong government appealed against her acquittal and the Court of Appeal ordered a retrial. Her retrial took place in December 2024 and this time another judge ruled that she had a case to answer.[7] The court also heard that Chen had used a loudspeaker to urge police to act with constraint, to give people time to retreat, and not to deploy tear gas against reporters and residents without protective gear.[8] In his submissions, Chen's defense lawyer kept asking the prosecutor, "What was the crime in a social worker urging police to act with restraint?"[9] Chen's case signaled the tough stance the Hong Kong authorities have taken toward politically sensitive cases.[10] Her verdict and subsequent sentencing will become a major legal precedent for any similar cases to come.[11][12] Since 2019, more than 800 have been charged with rioting, a crime broadly interpreted by local courts to cover many of those who were merely present or passing by the scenes of violence without intentions proved beyond doubt.[13]
According to The Witness, out of the 2019 protests cases that were charged with rioting, at least 12 defendants (including Jackie Chen) were social workers or social work students.[14] Some were convicted without any proof of intent but by inference from circumstantial evidences, such as their clothing colour or the protective gears they were wearing or carrying at the time of the arrest.[14]
She is one of the interviewees of Kiwi Chow's 2020 documentary film Revolution of Our Times.[15]
Community services
[edit]Chen was part of the "Battlefield Social Workers" volunteer group, members of which carried a loudspeaker to mediate between police and protesters during Hong Kong's 2019 protests.[5][16] They monitored police action in case if any excessive or unnecessary force was used on civilians, and offered emotional relief to people as well as support services to those arrested.[5] She was also an alternative member on the Disciplinary Committee (2022–2024) of Hong Kong's Social Workers Registration Board,[17] and served as a council member when on the board (2016–2022) of the Hong Kong Federation of Social Workers.[18]
In early May 2020, Chen was nominated and won the Outstanding Social Worker Award, presented by the Hong Kong Social Workers Association.[19] Chen has taken at least six volunteer trips to China, Taiwan and other parts of Asia providing post-disaster psychological support services.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f g "【香港法庭】重審暴動罪成陳虹秀親撰4頁求情信 認「不孝女」明白無法再當社工". Radio Free Asia (in Chinese). 3 April 2025. Retrieved 3 June 2025.
- ^ "他們好嗎？｜陳虹秀：只希望五年後可去旅行，keep 住做返陳虹秀". The Collective (in Chinese). 8 August 2024. Retrieved 3 June 2025.
- ^ "陳虹秀重審後暴動罪成 親撰求情信盼早日與家人團聚". Ming Pao (in Chinese). 3 April 2025. Retrieved 3 June 2025.
- ^ a b Leung, Hillary (11 March 2025). "HK social worker Jackie Chen found guilty of rioting after retrial". Hong Kong Free Press. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
- ^ a b c d Jessie Pang and James Pomfret (11 March 2025). "Hong Kong Court convicts social worker for rioting at retrial". Reuters.
- ^ Kwan, Chun-hoi (29 September 2020). "亂世社工陳虹秀：站在大道是對法治的一點信任". Hong Kong Feature (in Chinese). Retrieved 3 June 2025.
- ^ "陳虹秀涉暴動案重審結案陳辭 控方指陳實想幫示威者打氣 押至明年3月裁決". Ming Pao (in Chinese). 13 December 2024. Retrieved 3 June 2025.
- ^ Leung, Hillary (6 December 2024). "Social worker has case to answer in 2019 rioting retrial, court rules". Hong Kong Free Press. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
- ^ "8.31灣仔暴動｜陳虹秀被指以擴音器勸警保持冷靜實為幫示威者打氣 辯方結案陳詞：「一個社工⋯⋯勸佢哋克制，何罪之有？」". HK Court News. 13 December 2024. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
- ^ "A social worker who tried to mediate during the 2019 protests in Hong Kong is convicted of rioting". Associated Press. 11 March 2025. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
- ^ "【香港法庭】4人暴動罪脫發還重審 社工陳虹秀申請上訴終院被拒". Radio Free Asia (in Chinese). 3 October 2023. Retrieved 3 June 2025.
- ^ "陳虹秀暴動案重審裁定罪成 社工註冊局：對如何處理陳虹秀社工註冊「無咩選擇」". Ming Pao (in Chinese). 11 March 2025. Retrieved 3 June 2025.
- ^ "Hong Kong pro-democracy social worker convicted over 2019 clash". France 24. 11 March 2025. Retrieved 17 March 2025.
- ^ a b "反修例暴動案至少12被告為社工或準社工 陳虹秀4人辯解到場履責 僅一人無罪". The Witness. 11 March 2025. Retrieved 14 March 2025.
- ^ 張詩芸 (25 February 2022). "開咪、被捕、新屋嶺：「陣地社工」陳虹秀堅持發聲，見證《時代革命》". The Reporter (in Chinese). Retrieved 3 June 2025.
- ^ 趙苡彤 (5 October 2020). "【專訪】殲滅妖魔變成公仔 13日暴動罪審訊 社工陳虹秀苦中尋找甜". Hong Kong Inmedia (in Chinese). Retrieved 3 June 2025.
- ^ 郭梓謙 (31 July 2024). "社工註冊局｜陳虹秀前年獲委入紀委會 新主席許宗盛稱已叫停名單". 香港01 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Retrieved 17 March 2025.
- ^ 呂穎姍 (10 May 2024). "拆局｜孫玉菡轟社工註冊局 消息指涉被捕陳虹秀入選紀委備選名單". 香港01 (in Chinese (Hong Kong)). Retrieved 17 March 2025.
- ^ Ho, Kelly (12 June 2020). "The perilous role of Hong Kong's 'battlefield' social workers: 'How could I not do this?'". Hong Kong Free Press. Retrieved 17 March 2025.