Hong Kong Court Jails Three Tiananmen Vigil Organizers in Subversion Case

Three Hong Kong activists who organized annual vigils commemorating China's 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown were sentenced on Friday to prison terms ranging from about five to seven years, in a case widely viewed as a measure of the city's shrinking freedoms.

Lee Cheuk-yan, Chow Hang-tung and Albert Ho were convicted of inciting subversion earlier this year under a national security law imposed by Beijing. Lee received seven years, while Chow was sentenced to seven years and three months. Both had pleaded not guilty. Ho was given five years and two months, a lower term attributed partly to his guilty plea.

The three were charged in September 2021 and had been held in custody for years before the sentencing.

Outside the court, relatives of the convicted activists confronted a crush of journalists. Elizabeth Tang, wife of Lee Cheuk-yan, said she felt both sorrow and anger, noting that her husband had already spent more than five years in detention since April 2021 and now faced an additional three years. She said the judge had not taken his defense into account, called the outcome unfair and said he would appeal.

Tang added that many people were shocked and angry because thousands of citizens had joined the candlelight vigils in Victoria Park over the years, and that even those who did not attend in person supported them. She described the sentence as a punishment that extended to those supporters as well.

Medina Chow Lau Wah-chun, mother of Chow Hang-tung, said she was unsure whether to thank those who brought her daughter to court, remarking that the proceedings had helped place the memories and truth of June 4, along with events in Hong Kong in recent years, into the city's court records.

At a press conference after the sentencing, Li Kwai-wah, Chief Superintendent of the Hong Kong Police's National Security wing, said the case fell within the serious category under Article 23 of the national security law, which carries a punishment of five to ten years' imprisonment. He said the sentences clearly indicated that the case was treated as an act of advocacy of offenses.

Police officers and a police dog were deployed outside the court building, where diplomats from the United States and Europe were seen entering. The case has drawn international attention as a barometer of Hong Kong's eroding freedoms amid Beijing's broader crackdown on dissent.