9 Hong Kong march backers sentenced
HONG KONG — A Hong Kong court Friday sentenced five leading democracy advocates, including media tycoon Jimmy Lai, to up to 18 months in prison for organizing and participating in a march during 2019 anti-government protests that triggered an overwhelming crackdown by Beijing.
A total of nine advocates were given jail terms, but four of them, including 82-year-old lawyer and former lawmaker Martin Lee, had their sentences suspended after their age and accomplishments were taken into consideration.
They were found guilty this month of organizing and participating in the August 2019 protest, where an estimated 1.7 million people marched in opposition to an ultimately withdrawn bill to allow suspects to be extradited to mainland China. The march was not authorized by the police.
Their convictions and sentencings are another blow to the city’s flagging democracy movement, which is facing an unprecedented crackdown by Beijing and Hong Kong authorities. The sentences were swiftly met with international criticism.
Hong Kong’s last British governor, Chris Patten, said the “comprehensive assault” on the freedoms of Hong Kong and its rule of law remains relentless.
“This week, we have witnessed some of the most distinguished of the city’s peaceful and moderate champions of liberty and democracy placed in Beijing’s vengeful sights,” he said in a statement. The Chinese Communist Party “simply does not understand that you cannot bludgeon and incarcerate people into loving a totalitarian and corrupt regime.”
Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific regional director, Yamini Mishra, said the sentences underlined the government’s intention to “eliminate all political opposition.”
“Having arrested the majority of Hong Kong’s most prominent dissidents using the repressive national security law, the authorities are now mopping up remaining peaceful critics under the pretext of bogus charges related to the 2019 protests,” Mishra said.
The court suspended the 11-month prison sentence of Lee, who is known for his advocacy of human rights and democracy, for two years because of his age.
Lai, the founder of Hong Kong’s Apple Daily tabloid, was sentenced to a total of 14 months in prison for charges related to the demonstration Aug. 18, 2019, and an unauthorized march on Aug. 31 that year.
Lai was also slapped with two additional charges Friday, one under the national security law accusing him of conspiring to collude with foreign powers and another accusing him of helping local activists escape the city.
Lai was already being held on other charges, including foreign collusion to intervene in the city’s affairs — a new crime under a national security law that Beijing imposed on the city in 2020.
Lee Cheuk-yan, a democracy activist and former lawmaker who helped organize annual candlelight vigils in Hong Kong on the anniversary of the bloody crackdown on democracy protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989, was sentenced to a total of 14 months in prison for his participation in the two August 2019 marches.
Lawyers Albert Ho and Margaret Ng both had their 12-month jail sentences suspended for two years. Former lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung was sentenced to 18 months, while another former legislator, Cyd Ho, was given a sentence of eight months.
Two other former lawmakers, Au Nok-hin and Leung Yiu-chung, who previously pleaded guilty, were also given jail sentences. Au got 10 months while Leung’s eightmonth term was suspended for one year.
“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 Cheuk-yan said ahead of the court session, as supporters held up signs condemning political persecution. “We will walk together even in darkness, we will walk with hope in our hearts.”