Two pro-democracy activists who were put on trial for organising an annual Tiananmen Square massacre vigil in Hong Kong have been sentenced to seven years in jail, in one of the city’s most significant national security cases.
Chow Hang-tung, 41 and Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, were found guilty in August of incitement to subversion. The court found they had “incited other persons to organise, plan, commit or participate in acts by unlawful means with a view to subverting the state power”.
Chow and Lee were leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance, which for decades organised the city’s annual vigil in memory of those killed in the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing in 1989. Lee and Chow received prison terms of seven years, and seven years and three months respectively.
Albert Ho, a 74-year-old former lawmaker who pleaded guilty in January, received a sentence of five years and two months.
Their case represented one of the last high-profile national security trials to be heard in Hong Kong, as the national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020 extinguishes what was once one of the world’s most widely watched pro-democracy struggles. The Alliance disbanded in 2021 following pressure created by the introduction of the national security law.
The case had centred on a slogan that was used for decades by the Alliance: “end one-party dictatorship”. The court ruled that the defendants “intended to cause others to lose confidence in the Chinese Communist party by stirring up hostility and causing division”. The defence said that the Alliance was simply exercising its right to freedom of speech.
One supporter who attended the sentencing told the Guardian: “A demonstration that lasted for more than 35 years without any problem is suddenly being seen as subversion.”
Chow, a UK educated barrister, represented herself in court. She has been in detention since 2021 and while in prison has frequently written letters published on her social media.
In August Chow wrote a note to the UK prime minister, Andy Burnham, calling for Britain “to adopt a more robust stance in the face of the growing threat from a totalitarian and aggressive China”. The UK Foreign Office said it condemned the use of the national security law in convicting the two activists.
Before sentencing, members of the public queued up for days to secure a seat in the court. Some in the queue had prepared food and umbrellas in preparation to stay overnight.
Hong Kong and Macau were once the only places on Chinese soil where it was permitted to hold public vigils to mourn protesters who died on 4 June 1989 in Beijing. Hundreds, possibly thousands, were killed when the People’s Liberation Army put a bloody end to pro-democracy protests.
For decades tens of thousands of people would gather in Hong Kong’s Victoria park to take part in a candlelit vigil. In 2020, Beijing’s sweeping national security law in effect banned public commemoration. In recent years, activists who attempted to publicly mark the day said they were frequently followed, searched and detained by plainclothes police.
Authorities said the national security law would only affect a small number of people and was needed to return order after a year of often violent anti-government protests in 2019. But critics say it has transformed the city.
“It is still surreal to me,” Lee’s wife, Elizabeth Tang, told the Guardian. “Every time the Alliance had an activity, they would get the police permission for every one.
“The vigils are what made Hong Kong different,” she said, recalling the public commemoration that are now banned. “It’s very unjust. Complete silence is really very scary.”
The case has seen widespread condemnation from foreign governments and human rights groups who criticised the use of the national security law to convict peaceful protesters and ban the vigil.
