Get ready for an allegation. A Hong Kong woman was arrested on August 21 “for allegedly wearing seditious T-shirt outside court” (The Star [Malaysia], August 29, 2026).
“During the wait, a plain‑clothes officer reportedly singled out a woman whose shirt was suspected of carrying seditious intent and escorted her into a police vehicle…. A witness told media she was wearing a black T‑shirt printed with Japanese characters.”
This was a woman who had been waiting outside the West Kowloon Court along with some 50 others to hear what the verdict would be (guilty as charged, as it turned out) in the case of Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan, described by the Hong Kong Free Press as “Hong Kong Tiananmen vigil activists.” The people were probably also gathered to show their support for Chow and Lee.
In addition to the detained woman, was everyone else in that group also wearing clothes? And, if we think that they were, do we know this for sure, or would this also be a detail that we must treat as an allegation?
The woman was wearing an article of clothing which we think was a T-shirt. That’s the claim, anyway. This T-shirt also had the attribute of being seditious. Allegedly.
We don’t know what the T-shirt said. It may have said “remember the Tiananmen Square massacre.” It may have said “it’s no crime to light a candle.” Or it may have said “meet at midnight at such-and-such location to begin the overthrow of the government; the plan is in place and ready to go,” not the most sensible way to communicate secret seditious plans to fellow insurgents.
But maybe. Maybe that’s what the T-shirt said. Let’s wait until all the facts come out.
