HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s High Court on Tuesday sentenced 45 pro-democracy activists to jail terms of up to 10 years in a landmark national security trial that has damaged the city’s once feisty democracy movement and drawn international condemnation.
A total of 47 pro-democracy activists were arrested and charged in 2021 with conspiracy to commit subversion under a Beijing-imposed national security law and had faced sentences of up to life in prison.
Benny Tai, a former legal scholar identified as an “organizer” of the activists, was sentenced to 10 years in jail, the longest sentence so far under the 2020 national security law.
Some Western governments have criticized the trial, with the US describing it as “politically motivated” and saying the democrats should be released as they had been “peacefully participating in political activities” that were legal.
The Chinese and Hong Kong governments say the national security laws were necessary to restore order after mass pro-democracy protests in 2019, and the democrats have been treated in accordance with local laws.

Closely watched trial
The charges related to the organizing of an unofficial “primary election” in 2020 to select the best candidates for an upcoming legislative election. The activists were accused by prosecutors of plotting to paralyze the government by engaging in potentially disruptive acts had they been elected.
After a 118 day trial, 14 of the democrats were found guilty in May, including Australian citizen Gordon Ng and activist Owen Chow, while two were acquitted. The other 31 pleaded guilty.
Sentences ranged from just over four years to 10 years.
Prominent Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong was sentenced to four years and eight months in jail, while Chow was sentenced to seven years and nine months; former journalist-turned-activist Gwyneth Ho, was sentenced to seven years.
Elsa Wu, the mother of Hendrick Lui, who was sentenced to more than four years in jail, was taken away in a police van outside the courtroom and shouted: “He’s a good person … he’s not a political prisoner … why does he have to go to jail?”
She screamed before police slammed the van door.
Hundreds of people had queued from the early hours outside the court, many holding umbrellas in light rain as they tried to secure a seat within the main courtroom and several spillover courts.
Authorities deployed a tight police presence outside the West Kowloon Magistrates Court and for several blocks in the vicinity.
“I feel such an injustice needs witnessing,” said one woman who gave her name as Margaret and had been in the queue since Sunday afternoon. “I’ve long followed their case. They (the democrats) need to know they still have public support.”
The ruling, which critics have said tarnishes Hong Kong’s role as a global financial hub, comes as the city is hosting an international financial summit to attract more business.
US President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee as secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has been a staunch critic of the trial and in an earlier open letter criticized the convictions of the 47 democrats as evidence of the national security law’s “comprehensive assault on Hong Kong’s autonomy, rule of law, and fundamental freedoms.”
Britain, which handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997, has said the 2020 security law has been used to curb dissent and freedom.

HONG KONG: Hong Kong’s largest national security trial will draw to a close on Tuesday, with dozens of the city’s most prominent democracy campaigners set to be sentenced for subversion, a charge that can carry up to life imprisonment.
Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on the financial hub in 2020, snuffing out months of massive, sometimes violent, pro-democracy protests.
Western countries and international rights groups have condemned the trial as evidence of Hong Kong’s increased authoritarianism.
The “Hong Kong 47” were arrested in 2021 after holding an unofficial election primary that aimed to improve pro-democracy parties’ chances of winning a majority in the city’s legislature.
Two of the 47 were acquitted in May, but on Tuesday, the rest will learn their sentences, many after more than 1,300 days in jail.
The sentencing is “a very important indicator to show the general public (the degree of) openness and inclusivity in our society,” Lee Yue-shun, one of those acquitted, told AFP on Tuesday as he waited outside court.
A friend of defendant Gordon Ng, named by prosecutors as one of five organizers, told AFP she had been suffering insomnia in the past few days.
“Gordon seemed nervous too,” the woman said about her visit to Ng in prison. “But... he kept telling us not to overthink.”
This case is the largest by number of defendants since the law was passed in mid-2020.
Another major national security trial will see a key development on Wednesday, when jailed pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai testifies in his collusion trial.
The charges against Lai revolve around publications in his now-shuttered tabloid Apple Daily, which supported the pro-democracy protests and criticized Beijing’s leadership.
China and Hong Kong say the security law restored order following the 2019 protests, and have warned against “interference” from other countries.

At dawn on Tuesday, more than 200 people stood in the chilly drizzle outside the court where the sentencing will take place.
Some had been queuing since Saturday to nab a public seat.
Eric, an IT professional based in mainland China, spent a day of holiday waiting in line.
“I want to bear witness of how Hong Kong becomes mainland China,” Eric told AFP.
“In the future, cases like this may not be open to the public anymore.”
Jack, a law student, said he wanted to witness the sentencing because he found the judgment “was not particularly convincing.”
He said he was pessimistic that the sentencing would be lenient, but that even if it was, “people’s passion for political participation has dissipated in the face of restrictions.”
The aim of the election primary, which took place in July 2020, was to pick a cross-party shortlist of pro-democracy candidates to increase their electoral prospects.
If a majority was achieved, the plan was to force the government to meet the 2019 protesters’ demands — including universal suffrage — by threatening to indiscriminately veto the budget.
Three senior judges handpicked by the government to try security cases said the group would have caused a “constitutional crisis.”

The “principal offenders” face 10 years to life in jail.
Legal scholar Benny Tai has been named “the brain behind the project” by prosecutors.
Others singled out as “more radical” are the ex-leaders of the now-disbanded Civic Party Alvin Yeung and Jeremy Tam, young activist Owen Chow and former journalist Gwyneth Ho.
The oldest defendant is “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung, the 68-year-old co-founder of the city’s last standing opposition party the League of Social Democrats.
His wife Chan Po-ying, the leader of the LSD, told AFP that Leung “does not have any special thoughts on the sentence” after visiting him on Monday.
“I feel rather calm too... I wish for no surprise and no shock,” Chan said.
Emilia Wong, girlfriend of rally organizer Ventus Lau, said Lau appeared more anxious in recent months.
They hadn’t discussed the potential sentence much because “it’s an unprecedented case,” she said.
“A long time ago, he said if the sentence is up to 10 years or 20 years, I should not wait for his release,” Wong told AFP.
“The (sentencing) day may be a significant milestone for the outside world but for me... I will just have to carry on with my normal life, visiting him and handling his matters.”