Hong Kong sentences Tiananmen activists to between 5 and 7 years in jail

A Hong Kong court handed three Tiananmen vigil activists jail sentences of between five and seven years on Friday for national security crimes, following a trial that has drawn international condemnation.

Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, Albert Ho, 74 and Chow Hang-tung, 41 have been behind bars since they were charged in 2021. Their sentences are expected to include time already served.

The United Nations, rights groups and foreign governments have condemned their convictions under a national security law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong.

A court ruled in August that the activists had breached the Chinese constitution by calling for an "end to one-party dictatorship".

Lee and Chow, who pleaded not guilty, were sentenced to seven years and seven years and three months respectively, AFP journalists in court heard.

Ho, a former lawmaker who pleaded guilty in January, got five years and two months.

The verdict read that although the case did not involve violence, and the defendants had not put forward a specific timetable to carry out an "end to one-party dictatorship", their offence was still of "a serious nature".

Chow, a barrister who represented herself, told a hearing last month that she had "nothing to repent for".

She raised both arms and waved at supporters as she was escorted out by officers.

Supporters outside court hugged her mother, Medina Chow Lau Wah-chun, who said her daughter had maintained high spirits during the trial.

"She is not a competent barrister. She is simply an outstanding defendant," her mother said.

Lee crossed himself, smiled and bowed at his wife Elizabeth Tang Yin-ngor and supporters, including high-profile activist Cardinal Joseph Zen, who stood outside gripping each others' hands.

"I'm really sad, and very angry," Tang told reporters, saying Lee would "definitely appeal".

Dozens of police swarmed around the court and set up cordons holding back crowds.

Hong Kong and Macau were the only places on Chinese soil that permitted public mourning for those killed on June 4, 1989, when Beijing sent troops and tanks to crush protests calling for political reform around the capital's Tiananmen Square.

But public commemoration has been effectively banned in Hong Kong since the Beijing-imposed security law took effect in 2020, following huge pro-democracy protests.

The trio were leaders of the now-defunct Hong Kong Alliance, the group that organised annual vigils in the city's Victoria Park.

National security police chief Steve Li told reporters the sentences are "a stern warning to those who may be contemplating similar acts".

"Do not underestimate our determination to safeguard... national security," he warned.

The sentences were condemned by officials in Taiwan, which China sees as its own territory, as well as rights groups.

"The pursuit of democracy and human rights is not a crime," Taiwan's top China policy body said, adding that authorities have "fabricated charges and conducted political trials in the name of national security to shield an authoritarian regime".

Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said the "harsh sentences" expose "the cruelty and insecurity of a government afraid of memory and the people".

Amnesty International's Deputy Regional Director Sarah Brooks said the sentencing "illustrates just how much Hong Kong has been transformed in the name of 'national security'".

"This sentencing is a triple tragedy: for the activists being unjustly punished; the survivors and victims of the Tiananmen crackdown itself; and the generations of Hongkongers denied the space to discuss one of the most consequential events in modern Chinese history," she said.

The Hong Kong Alliance group also operated a museum dedicated to the crackdown and held events, including a yearly washing of the "Pillar of Shame" -- a statue to mourn victims.

The statue was removed from its long-time plinth at the University of Hong Kong in 2021, and other local universities followed suit with similar objects.

Prosecutors argued that evidence in the case, including the statue and archives from the Hong Kong Alliance's museum, should be confiscated.

Judge Alex Lee said Friday the fate of the statue would be decided after a decision was made on its ownership.

Ahead of Friday's sentencing, Chow said "the authorities' true intentions were finally laid bare".

"This prosecution is an attempt to erase memories," she said.

The Danish artist behind "Pillar of Shame", Jens Galschiot, called the outcome of the trial and the statue's potential confiscation "outrageous".

The statue tells the story of Tiananmen, Galschiot told AFP, who has for years sought to reclaim his work.

If it were destroyed, that would also "destroy the story that everybody should know", he said.