A Hong Kong court sentenced three former leaders of the group behind the city’s annual Tiananmen Square vigils to prison terms of up to seven years and three months on Sept. 11, drawing condemnation from democracy advocates and international rights groups.
The High Court sentenced lawyer Chow Hang-tung to seven years and three months and former lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan to seven years after they were convicted of “inciting subversion of state power” under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law. Albert Ho, who pleaded guilty earlier, received five years and two months. The now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China was also fined HK$1.5 million, according to both Reuters and the Hong Kong government’s official statement.
The Alliance spent decades organizing Hong Kong’s huge June 4 candlelight vigils commemorating those killed during the Chinese military’s 1989 crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square. Public commemorations that were once permitted in Hong Kong effectively disappeared after Beijing imposed the National Security Law in 2020.
Court targets call to ‘end one-party dictatorship’
Central to the prosecution was the Alliance’s long-standing demand to “end one-party dictatorship.” Judges found that the slogan amounted to an attempt to overthrow or undermine the constitutional leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. Human Rights Watch noted that the court acknowledged the organization had never used or advocated violence but nevertheless found its political advocacy constituted “unlawful means.”
Chow, a barrister who represented herself, argued that peaceful demands for democracy and accountability were being transformed into national security crimes. In her closing statement, quoted by Human Rights Watch, she said: “Speaking the truth is branded as inciting hatred.” She added that “returning power to the people is condemned as subversion.”
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Reuters reported that veteran Hong Kong democracy politician Emily Lau condemned the sentences, saying, “They shouldn’t have been in jail for one day.” She described the sentencing as “a very sad day for Hong Kong.”
Hong Kong authorities strongly defended the prosecution. Chief Executive John Lee said the defendants had attempted to use the Alliance to subvert state power and warned that “anyone who intends to incite subversion” would be punished under the law. The government said the defendants were convicted for conduct after the National Security Law took effect rather than for their political beliefs or earlier activities.
The government also said the trial was fair and that the defendants’ activities threatened China’s constitutional order. Hong Kong National Security Police described the proceedings as “fair, impartial, open and transparent,” according to Reuters.
Rights groups say historical memory is being criminalized
Rights groups said the sentences marked another major erosion of the freedoms that once distinguished Hong Kong from mainland China.
Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said the case showed that “public displays of mourning have become a crime in Hong Kong.” She accused the Chinese government of treating remembrance of Tiananmen “as a national security threat.”
The organization said the Alliance had organized Tiananmen vigils since 1990, sometimes drawing hundreds of thousands of people to Victoria Park. Similar public commemorations remain prohibited in mainland China. Hong Kong authorities banned the vigil in 2020 and 2021, initially citing COVID-19 restrictions, and the Alliance disbanded in 2021 amid mounting national security pressure.
Amnesty International called the sentences a “triple tragedy” for the activists, Tiananmen victims and younger generations of Hong Kong residents. Amnesty’s Sarah Brooks said, “You do not strengthen national security by imprisoning people for peacefully remembering the dead.”
The European Union had already condemned the prosecution after the convictions in August, describing it as “politically motivated” and saying it undermined confidence in Hong Kong’s rule of law. The EU statement said the case reflected a continuing deterioration in freedom of expression and assembly and a shrinking space for independent civil society.
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council also condemned the sentences, telling Reuters that authorities had used national security to conduct “political trials” designed to protect an authoritarian system.
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