More Tiananmen vigil activists sentenced to prison in Hong Kong security case

A Hong Kong court sentenced three activists — who for years organized vigils in remembrance of China’s 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown — to prison for terms ranging from five to more than seven years on Friday in a case that is widely seen as a barometer of the city’s freedoms as Beijing clamps down on dissent.

Lee Cheuk-yan, Chow Hang-tung and Albert Ho were convicted of inciting subversion earlier this year under a Beijing-imposed national security law.

Lee and Chow, who pleaded not guilty, received prison terms of seven years, and seven years plus three months. Ho was given five years plus two months, lower than his co-defendants partly because of his guilty plea.

The trio of defendants was charged in September 2021 and has been held in custody for years.

Hong Kong once had a vibrant civil society marked by massive protests and a freewheeling press scene.

For three decades, the vigil was the only large-scale, public commemoration in China that drew tens of thousands of people annually. It symbolized the civil liberties Hong Kong enjoyed under Beijing’s “one country, two systems” governing principle after Britain handed the former colony back to China in 1997.

But after a 2019 protest movement rocked the city, authorities reduced public choice in elections and prosecuted leaders of news outlets known for their critical reports of the government. Many leading activists were imprisoned under the security law, and dozens of civil society groups dissolved, including the alliance.

Beijing says the law is necessary to maintain stability.

The sentences for the Tiananmen activists are the latest high-profile penalties imposed under the security law.

In February, former pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai was sentenced to 20 years in prison.