Hong Kong - A 24-year-old computer technician Thursday pleaded guilty to distributing obscene photographs of Hong Kong celebrities after pictures of pop stars having sex were viewed by millions of people earlier this year. Kwok Chun-wai, who earlier denied the offence, admitted distributing the photographs and was remanded in custody for background reports. He will be sentenced later this month.
Kwok was arrested after nude photos of Cantopop star Edison Chen and a series of young starlets in the entertainment industry appeared on the internet in January and February.
The images were copied from Chen's laptop and distributed over the internet after Chen took it to a computer shop to be repaired, Kowloon City Magistrates Court was told.
Millions of internet users viewed the pictures, setting off one of the biggest scandals in Hong Kong entertainment history and fuelling a debate on internet freedom.
Actor and pop star Chen, 27, later apologized to the women involved, including Twins singer Gillian Chung, and announced he was giving up his show business career.
Kwok's arrest and detention has been criticized as excessive by some human rights campaigners. He now faces a possible jail term and was warned Thursday by Kowloon City magistrate that his offence was "serious."
