Hong Kong court hands stiff jail sentences to Tiananmen vigil activists

A Hong Kong court has sentenced three activists to five to seven years in prison for their roles in organising a vigil marking the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, and Chow Hang-tung, 41, were both sentenced on Friday to seven years for inciting subversion. Albert Ho, 74, was sentenced to five years and two months, having pleaded guilty in January.

The United Nations, rights groups, and foreign governments condemned the convictions under the draconian national security law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong following huge pro-democracy protests in 2020, which has suppressed civil liberties in the city that previously enjoyed greater freedoms than in mainland China.

Judges highlighted that the defendants, part of a group that organised annual commemorations marking Beijing’s 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, had breached the Chinese constitution by calling for an “end to one-party dictatorship”.

The verdict read that although the case did not involve violence, and the defendants had not put forward a timetable for that objective, their offence was still of “a serious nature”.

The court judgement added that the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China faces a fine of 1.5 million Hong Kong dollars ($191,000).

Lee is the former chair of the Hong Kong Alliance. Chow is a former vice-chair. Both have been in custody since pleading not guilty in 2021.

Ho is another former ⁠chair of the vigil group and was a leading figure in the opposition Democratic Party. The sentences are expected to include time already served.