A university student in Hong Kong has been sentenced to eight weeks in jail for fabricating withdrawal applications within Hong Kong’s organ donation system. This incident occurred amidst a surge of irregular requests following the announcement of a cross-border matching scheme last year.
The Eastern Court Magistrate, Stephanie Tsui May-har, dismissed the possibility of a suspended sentence for the 20-year-old student, Wong Tsz-shing. Wong, in his defense, claimed he was merely “messing around” by inputting the personal details of donors without their consent.
Although released on bail pending an appeal against the sentence, Wong had previously pleaded guilty to one count of criminal damage and was remanded for two weeks.
Magistrate Tsui emphasized the severe consequences of Wong’s actions, stating they had “severely undermined the public interest,” despite the Department of Health not processing the invalid applications submitted on May 23 of last year.
Wong’s counsel argued that the defendant harbored no hatred towards specific targets or dissatisfaction with the government. However, Tsui disregarded these factors, asserting that Wong’s attempt to interfere with the system warranted a prison term.
Wong’s appeal against the sentence was promptly filed, and he was granted bail by Tsui.
Last year, between May 22 and 25, an unprecedented number of withdrawal requests were recorded in the donor register, with over 28,000 applications received through the system or by post. However, more than 75% of these applications were deemed invalid, as some applicants had never registered for organ donation.
Wong had inserted names such as lawmaker Junius Ho Kwan-yiu and former chief executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor into the system. Police traced Wong’s IP address through firewall records and subsequently arrested him on June 5, 2023.
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