Hong Kong Tiananmen vigil activists jailed under security law
HKFP · 1 SOURCESabout 3 hours ago2 MIN
Summary
Three former leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China were sentenced on Friday at West Kowloon Law Courts Building for inciting subversion under Hong Kong’s Beijing-imposed national security law. Chow Hang-tung was jailed for seven years and three months, Lee Cheuk-yan for seven years, and Albert Ho for five years and two months, while the now-defunct Alliance was fined HK$1.5 million.
The case concerns activists who once organised Hong Kong’s annual candlelight vigils commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, before the event was banned in 2020 and again in 2021, and before the group voted to disband in September 2021
Key Points
- The sentences were handed down on Friday by designated national security judges at West Kowloon Law Courts Building in Hong Kong
- Chow Hang-tung received seven years and three months, Lee Cheuk-yan seven years, and Albert Ho, who pleaded guilty, five years and two months
- The Hong Kong Alliance itself, now dissolved, was fined HK$1.5 million and ordered to pay within three months
- The court said the case involved neither violence nor threats of violence, and no specific implementation plan or timetable was advanced
- Even so, the judgment found the offence serious enough to fall within the higher sentencing band; inciting subversion carries a maximum 10-year term
Why It Matters
The ruling further closes a chapter on a once-prominent annual public commemoration in Hong Kong, where the Alliance had organised mass June 4 vigils for years before the bans and its eventual dissolution.
It also shows that courts can treat non-violent political advocacy as a serious national security offence, a point already drawing condemnation from rights groups and the United Nations, while being welcomed by the Hong Kong government
It also shows that courts can treat non-violent political advocacy as a serious national security offence, a point already drawing condemnation from rights groups and the United Nations, while being welcomed by the Hong Kong government