A Hong Kong court has sentenced key pro-democracy leaders to years in jail for subversion, following a controversial national security trial.
Benny Tai and Joshua Wong were among the so-called Hong Kong 47 group of activists and lawmakers involved in a plan to pick opposition candidates for local elections. Tai received 10 years while Wong received more than four years.
Most of the group were found guilty of conspiring to attempt subversion, while two were acquitted.
Their trial marked the largest use of the harsh national security law (NSL) which China imposed on Hong Kong shortly after the city’s explosive pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Those demonstrations saw hundreds of thousands taking to the streets of Hong Kong for months. Triggered by a proposed government treaty that would have allowed extradition from Hong Kong to mainland China, the protests quickly grew to reflect wider demands for democratic reform.
Observers say the NSL and the trial’s outcome have significantly weakened the city’s pro-democracy movement and rule of law, and allowed China to cement control of the city.
The US has described the trial as “politically motivated”. Australia said it had “strong objections” to the use of the NSL and it was “gravely concerned” by the sentencing of one of its citizens, Gordon Ng.
Beijing and Hong Kong’s governments argue that the law is necessary to maintain stability and deny it has weakened autonomy. They also say the convictions serve as a warning against forces trying to undermine China’s national security.
The case has attracted huge interest from Hongkongers, dozens of whom queued up outside of the court days before the sentencing to secure a spot in the public gallery.
Standing in line on Tuesday was Lee Yue-shun, one of the two acquitted defendants. He told reporters he wanted to urge Hongkongers to “raise questions” about the case, as “everyone has a chance to be affected” by its outcome.
Inside the courtroom, family members and friends waved from the public gallery to the defendants. Some in the gallery were seen tearing up as the sentences, which ranged from four to ten years, were read out.
Tai, a former law professor who came up with the plan for the unofficial primary, received the longest sentence with judges saying he had “advocated for a revolution”.
Wong had his sentence reduced by a third after he pleaded guilty. But unlike some other defendants, he was not given further reductions as judges “did not consider him to be a person of good character”. At the time of the arrests, Wong was already in jail for participating in protests.
In court, Wong shouted “I love Hong Kong” before he left the dock.
Other prominent pro-democracy figures who were sentenced include Gwyneth Ho, a former journalist who went into politics, and former lawmakers Claudia Mo and Leung Kwok-hung. They received sentences between four and seven years in prison.
As Leung’s wife, activist Chan Po-ying, walked out of the court at the end of the hearing, she was heard chanting a protest against his jail term.
After the 2019 protests dwindled with the Covid pandemic, activists organised an unofficial primary for the Legislative Council election as a way to continue the pro-democracy movement.
Their aim was to increase the opposition’s chances of blocking the pro-Beijing government’s bills. More than half a million Hongkongers turned out to vote in the primary held in July 2020.
Organisers argued at the time that their actions were allowed under the Basic Law – a mini-constitution that allows certain freedoms. They had “never imagined that they would be in jail just for criticising the government”, former opposition lawmaker Ted Hui, who took part in the primary and later fled to Australia, told the BBC’s Newsday programme.
But it alarmed Beijing and Hong Kong officials, who warned that the move could breach the NSL, which came into effect days before the primary. They accused the activists of attempting to “overthrow” the government, and arrested them in early 2021.
At the end of the trial, the judges agreed with the prosecution’s argument that the plan would have created a constitutional crisis.
A Human Rights Watch spokesperson described Tuesday’s sentencing as showing “just how fast Hong Kong’s civil liberties and judicial independence have nosedived” since the enactment of the “draconian” NSL. They added that China and Hong Kong’s governments “have now significantly raised the costs for promoting democracy in Hong Kong”.
The pro-Beijing government may have used the trial to “settle scores” with the pro-democracy camp, said John P Burns, emeritus professor at the University of Hong Kong.
“Central authorities are also using the trial to re-educate the Hong Kong people,” Dr Burns said, with the lesson being “national security is the country’s top priority; don’t challenge us on national security’.”
“The case is significant because it provides clues to the health of Hong Kong’s legal system,” he told the BBC. “How can it be illegal to follow processes laid down in the Basic Law?”
Stephan Ortmann, assistant professor of politics at the Hong Kong Metropolitan University said the sentencing “set a precedent for the severity of punishments for political dissent under the NSL”.
The pro-democracy movement has now been “greatly weakened” where “self-censorship has become the norm”, he added.
Hong Kong activists say they have personally experienced the chilling effect.
Emily Lau, former chair of the Democratic Party of Hong Kong, said the fear of being arrested under the NSL is so great that “recently, we could not even organise a dinner party for members and friends. And that’s how stressful things are.”
But “the fight will go on but in a peaceful and legal way”, Ms Lau told BBC Newsday.
“It doesn’t mean the Beijing government wins the hearts of the people,” said Sunny Cheung, an activist who ran in the 2020 primary but has since fled to the US.
“They might be happy in a way because the entire opposition is being wiped out… but at the same time, they lost the whole generation. They don’t have the trust of the people.”
