HONG KONG: A series of arrests of Internet users in Hong Kong, for posting photos and videos of what appear to be some of Asia’s best-known singers engaged in sex acts, has triggered a debate over free speech and whether the police here are selectively enforcing anti-pornography laws.

The police have already arrested nine people, and three have been formally charged, including a 24-year-old man in Kowloon who was charged on Tuesday with publishing obscene materials for having allegedly posted two files holding 100 photos. He did not enter a plea and was freed on bail of 10,000 Hong Kong dollars, or $1,282. His lawyer declined to comment.

The aggressive police response has divided Internet users in Hong Kong. Some see it as an infringement of individual freedoms, contending that Hong Kong’s anti-pornography ordinance is too broad and too vague, and hundreds joined in a protest march on Sunday.

“On the Internet there are a lot of nude pictures and sexy photos, but the police don’t bring charges” except in the current case involving the singers, said Lam Oiwan, a local blogger who participated in the demonstration and is also the editor of inmediahk.net, a citizen reporting Web site.

Others have been wary of using the photos to take a stand on free speech because they sense that the police may have strong public backing on this issue, and because they argue that Hong Kong laws do allow the police to prosecute people who distribute pornography.

“If we listen to radio talk shows and so forth, there are people calling in who say that Internet users are unreasonable and want to pass around dirty pictures,” said Charles Mok, the chairman of the Hong Kong chapter of the Internet Society.

Hong Kong’s best-selling singer right now, Gillian Chung, who is popular with girls in their early teens and even younger and who has been very visible in ads for Hong Kong Disneyland, seems to appear prominently in the photos and videos. Chung is part of a duo known as the Twins, and her plight following the release of the material has drawn public sympathy.

At a brief news conference on Monday, Chung did not confirm or deny that she appeared in the photos and videos but said that she had been naïve in her youth and regretted causing distress to her family and fans.

When a few initial photos first began to circulate two weeks ago, the promoter of the Twins and several other singers involved in the issue, the Emperor Entertainment Group, initially suggested that the photos had been manipulated to put the stars’ faces on other people’s bodies. Spokespeople for the company have stopped making that argument and are now declining to comment on the dispute.

The issue of the Internet photos has become particularly contentious, because it coincides with what many perceive as a broader toughening of Hong Kong police policies. The tougher policies coincide with preparations for six Olympic equestrian events that will be held in Hong Kong in August.

The Hong Kong police took a very tolerant view of demonstrators during the huge democracy marches in 2003 and 2004. They arrested no one even when nearly 500,000 people protested on July 1, 2003, against a proposal for strict internal security laws, which the government then withdrew.

By contrast, Jackie Hung, the vice convener of the Civil Human Rights Front, a broad coalition of nongovernmental groups in Hong Kong, said she knew of 37 civic activists who were arrested at various nonviolent protests last year.

“They are trying to silence the voices of civil society,” she said.

The march Sunday drew a small crowd that the police estimated at 230 and organizers at more than 400.

The Hong Kong news media reported that a video store across the border in mainland China had begun selling CDs of the videos and photos for $2.70 apiece but was promptly closed by local officials. Discussions of the videos and photos have flooded Internet forums in Hong Kong and the mainland.

All of the photos and videos appear to show a well-known Hong Kong singer, Edison Chen, in separate scenes with at least six women, four of whom are also well-known singers. In a video released last week, Chen apologized “to anyone who has been affected” and asked the public to delete any copies of the photos.

“The lives of many innocent people have been affected by this malicious and criminal conduct,” he said, “and in this regard I am filled with pain, hurt and frustration.”
According to the police, Chen took his laptop computer to a local computer repair shop and the computer’s memory was copied there. A supervisor at a downtown computer store, eLiTe Multimedia Ltd., who only gave his surname, Yeung, said on Tuesday that a former employee had been arrested, but he declined to elaborate, citing the police investigation.

Organized crime has long played an important role in Hong Kong’s entertainment industry, and this has led to considerable speculation about Chen’s future. Hong Kong tabloids have run a spate of reports in the last several days of an alleged murder contract put out on Chen.

Chen has left Hong Kong but plans to return this weekend and hold a news conference, said Mavis Leung, his spokeswoman, who declined to give further details.