Hong Kong activists jailed over Tiananmen vigil
Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung received seven-year sentences, while Albert Ho was jailed for five years and two months under Hong Kong’s national security law.
A Hong Kong court has sentenced three activists to between five and seven years in prison for organising an annual vigil commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung were each sentenced to seven years for inciting subversion. Albert Ho received five years and two months after pleading guilty in January. The court also fined their now-disbanded organisation, the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, HK$1.5 million.
Judges said the offence remained serious despite involving no violence and no timetable for ending one-party rule. The court found the activists had breached China’s constitution by calling for an “end to one-party dictatorship”.
The convictions were brought under Hong Kong’s national security law, introduced in 2020 after mass pro-democracy protests in 2019. Public commemorations of the Tiananmen crackdown had previously been legal and tolerated in the territory.
The sentences are expected to include time already served. Lee’s wife, Elizabeth Tang, said he would appeal, while Chow, who represented herself, said she had “nothing to repent for”.
Rights groups, the United Nations, foreign governments and Taiwan condemned the convictions, according to Al Jazeera. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said the authorities had “fabricated charges and conducted political trials”, a claim made in response to the verdicts.
