Hong Kong pro-democracy activists face jail terms of up to 18months
A group of high-profile Hong Kong pro-democracy activists have been sentenced to jail terms of up to 18 months for organising or attending “unauthorised assemblies” during mass protests in the Chinese-ruled financial hub in 2019.
Hong Kong media tycoon, Jimmy Lai and the veteran activist Lee Cheuk Yan will serve 12 months in prison.
Another activist, “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung, received the longest sentence, of 18 months, while Martin Lee, an 82-year-old barrister widely known as the father of Hong Kong democracy, and Margaret Ng, a 73-year-old barrister and former legislator, were given 11 and 12 months respectively, both sentences suspended for two years.
The jail terms were ordered in the first of two sentencing hearings on Friday – one relating to a protest on 18 August 2019 and another two weeks later on 31 August. Lai and Lee Cheuk-yan were defendants in both cases.
Hong Kong’s District Court Judge, Amanda Woodcock gave Lai a 15-month sentence, reduced by three months in mitigation.
Lai, who is facing other charges including under the national security law imposed by Beijing last year, has been detained on remand since late last year.
Separately, prosecutors laid a further national security charge against Lai on Friday, accusing him of conspiracy to collude with foreign forces, and another criminal charge of conspiracy to pervert the course of justice. Both reportedly relate to the case of Andy Li, an activist who was caught by Chinese authorities attempting to flee Hong Kong for Taiwan by boat.
Lai’s repeated arrests and related raid of his newsrooms have drawn international condemnation. Lee is also facing a number of other protest-related cases this year, and had previously said he expected to be jailed.
Dozens of people queued to enter the West Kowloon court on Friday morning, including foreign diplomats and former Hong Kong legislators.
Outside the court the defendants held up their hands to signal “five demands, not one less”, the rallying cry of the movement. Lee Cheuk-yan urged Hong Kong people to “hold on”.
“I’m ready to face the penalty and sentencing and I’m proud that I can walk with the people of Hong Kong for this democracy,” Lee said. “We will walk together even in darkness.”
The offences carried a maximum of five years in jail. Critics had argued that the imposition of jail terms over the unauthorised protest offences would be disproportionate.
More than 10,200 people have been arrested in relation to the mass protests of 2019, which began in demonstration against a proposed bill allowing extradition to China but evolved into a broader pro-democracy movement with violent confrontations met by increasingly brutal police response teams. Fewer than 3,000 of those arrests have progressed into the court system.
A subsequent crackdown by authorities, using existing criminal laws, a draconian national security law introduced by Beijing in 2020, and anti-pandemic laws have ended mass protests, and more than 100 people have been arrested under suspicion of national security offences, including much of the opposition camp.
The Guardian/ Reuters
