November 19, 2024 – Today, Hong Kong’s High Court handed down prison sentences to 45 pro-democracy leaders for their participation in a 2020 democratic primary, concluding the city’s largest national security trial to date.
The sentences, all of which were for the crime of conspiring to commit ‘subversion’ under the 2020 National Security Law (NSL), ranged from a minimum of four years to 10 years in jail. The NSL was imposed on Hong Kong by China shortly after the city’s pro-democracy protests in 2019 in a bid to crush dissent.
After the protests dwindled activists organised an unofficial primary for the Legislative Council election as a way to continue the pro-democracy movement and increase the opposition’s chances of blocking the pro-Beijing government’s bills.
Benny Tai, a former University of Hong Kong law professor, received the harshest sentence of 10 years, reduced from 15 years after he pleaded guilty.
The panel of Hong Kong government-picked judges labelled Tai the “mastermind” behind a conspiracy to overthrow the government for his role in drafting an Apple Daily op-ed in 2020 suggesting that pro-democracy lawmakers could aim to win a majority in Legislative Council election.
The remaining 44 were all sentenced for their roles in heeding that call by organising a democratic primary election, in which more than 600,000 Hong Kongers cast ballots.
Former Stand News journalist Gwyneth Ho, who came to prominence for her reporting of the 2019-2020 Hong Kong protests and did not submit a plea, received seven years in prison.
Owen Chow received the second-longest sentence of seven years and nine months, with the court ruling that he was an initiator of an online petition to encourage so-called “radical” candidates to stand.
Joshua Wong, the student whose activism made him a household name, received four years and eight months having also pleaded guilty. He is reported to have shouted “I love Hong Kong!” upon his exit from the courtroom.
The court decision comes almost four years after the January 2021 arrest of the Hong Kong 47 group of political prisoners. In May, two of the group, ex-district councillor Lee Yue-shun and barrister Lawrence Lau, were cleared of the charges against them, though the government has appealed that decision.
Of the 47 democrats charged with conspiring to commit subversion, 16 pleaded not guilty, with 14 of them convicted after a 118-day non-jury trial.
Tomorrow, all eyes will turn to the trial of Jimmy Lai, the former owner of the Apple Daily newspaper, who has been in prison for nearly four years on a series of national security charges.
Below is a statement from Mark Sabah, UK and EU Director, Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong (CFHK) Foundation:
“The sentencing of the 45 political prisoners today creates a chilling effect that aims to stop future generations from standing up for their right to demand their own political future.
“We should remember that all those sentenced were regular Hong Kong citizens, all of whom were simply carrying out their democratic right to determine their own future by exercising freedom of speech and the right to assembly.
“The international community should closely observe the direction of the Hong Kong government and continue to support Hong Kongers, especially those who have been forced to flee the city and take refuge elsewhere. We stand with Hong Kong and all those who have been sentenced.”
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