More than 40 Hong Kong pro-democracy activists jailed
Britain is among a number of countries to have condemned the sentences handed down to 45 pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong, as ITV News Reporter Martha Fairlie reports
A group of 45 pro-democracy activists have been jailed for subversion in Hong Kong, as part of a massive national security case, with their sentences ranging from four to ten years.
Among those handed sentences on Tuesday was Joshua Wong, a former student leader and poster child of the city’s once thriving pro-democracy movement, who shouted “I love Hong Kong” before he left the court.
The total prison time handed down by judges amounted to more than 240 years.
The group of ex-lawmakers, activists, unionists, and journalists were prosecuted in 2021 for conducting an unofficial primary election whose winners were expected to advance to the official election.
As per the Beijing-imposed 2020 national security law, they were accused of attempting to immobilise Hong Kong's government through this election.
These sentences are the largest use of this national security law (NSL) to date and are a blow to the city’s already shrinking political freedoms following Beijing’s sweeping crackdown on dissent.
Who's been sentenced - and for how long?
Legal scholar Benny Tai has received the longest jailtime - at ten years. Judges named him the "mastermind" of the election operation and said Tai “advocated for a revolution".
Tai said he “never intended" for his doing "to be used as blueprint for any political action".
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Judges said they had reduced sentences for defendants who did not know that the election was unlawful. Tai and fellow former lawmaker Alvin Yeung did not qualify for reduced sentences.
Former student leader Wong is the most famous face in Hong Kong - first making his name in 2012 protesting national education in Hong Kong schools. He pleaded guilty and has been sentenced to four years and eight months.
Gwyneth Ho, a former journalist has been sentenced to seven years. On her Facebook page she said: “Our true crime for Beijing is that we were not content with playing along in manipulated elections".
Two of the original 47 defendants were acquitted earlier this year but the rest were convicted of conspiracy to commit subversion.
What has the reaction been?
Observers have said that the trial highlights how officials quell dissent, stifle media and reduce public choice.
They added that it also demonstrates Beijing's desire to maintain control over the former British colony, despite promising to permit Hong Kong its civil liberties when it returned to China in 1997.
Foreign governments and human rights organisations have also responded critically to the sentencing.
The US Consulate in Hong Kong said the US has strongly condemned the trial's outcome: “The defendants were aggressively prosecuted and jailed for peacefully participating in normal political activity".
MP and Minister for the Indo-Pacific, Catherine West, said the NSL "has eroded the rights and freedoms of Hong Kongers. Today’s sentencing is a clear demonstration of the Hong Kong authorities’ use of the NSL to criminalise political dissent."
“Those sentenced today were exercising their right to freedom of speech, of assembly and of political participation [...] the UK will always stand up for the people of Hong Kong, and all states should uphold their international obligations to protect these fundamental rights".
The head of human rights organisation Amnesty International said in a statement: “None of the 45 people sentenced have committed an internationally recognized crime; they have been jailed only for exercising their human rights".
Beijing quashed foreign reaction, maintaining that the defendants' actions were unlawful and adding that China opposes Western nations' interference in internal Chinese affairs.
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