Harsh prison sentences against pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong

For decades, vigils were held in Victoria Park, Hong Kong, to honor those who died when the military cracked down on protests at Tiananmen Square in 1989. Hundreds of thousands used to join. They lit candles and chanted slogans for greater democracy. Unlike mainland China, where the massacre is taboo, people were allowed to talk about it in Hong Kong.

But not now anymore. Since 2020, when Beijing imposed a controversial national security law in Hong Kong, that kind of demonstration has become impossible. It has become dangerous to criticize the government in Hong Kong or the Communist Party in Beijing. Anyone who makes remarks risks being suspected of violating the Security Act, which is very vaguely written.

The courtroom was packed as the verdict against three leading figures of the Hong Kong Alliance, which organized the June 4 vigils, was handed down on Friday.

Two of them, Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, and Chow Hang-tun, 41, are sentenced to seven years in prison. Albert Ho, 74, who pleaded guilty in the hope of a lesser sentence, received five years.

Despite the fact that the commemoration ceremonies they participated in were peaceful, according to the verdict, they must have "incited other people to organize, plan and participate in actions by illegal means with the aim of overthrowing state power". This is said to have happened, among other things, by the group propagating for an end to the "one-party dictatorship". It encouraged people to undermine the Chinese Communist Party, according to the court.

The sentence is one in a series of interventions that manifest the Chinese Communist Party's increased grip on Hong Kong. The financial city previously distinguished itself as a place in China with a relatively high ceiling. Here there was freedom of speech, people could demonstrate, and there was a free press.

Now most groups critical of the government have been disbanded. Activists have been imprisoned or have fled Hong Kong. Those who remain and are free are careful what they say.

- Working for democracy has become a crime, wrote one of the convicts, Chow, on Patreon before the sentence was handed down.

Friday's verdict is heavily criticized by human rights organizations.

"The harsh sentences against the peaceful organizers of the Tiananmen Square memorial expose the cruelty and insecurity of a government that is afraid of people's memories," said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch in a statement.