Hong Kong Tiananmen Vigil Activists Convicted Under National Security Law

Two prominent Hong Kong activists, Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan, have been convicted of inciting subversion under Beijing's national security law. The verdict, delivered by three national security judges at the West Kowloon Law Courts Building, pertains to their involvement with the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China. For years, the Alliance organized annual vigils to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown.

Chow and Lee, who have been detained since September 2021, now face a potential prison sentence of up to a decade. Prosecutors argued that the Alliance incited others to overthrow the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) by advocating for the end of one-party rule in China, a core principle of the group since its founding in 1989. A third defendant, former lawmaker Albert Ho, pleaded guilty earlier in the trial.

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They adhered to the course of resisting the Central Government and refusing to make any compromise.

The judges stated in their verdict reasoning that Lee, Ho, and Chow "had all along been hostile towards the CCP and the Central Government under its leadership." They "adhered to the course of resisting the Central Government and refusing to make any compromise." The judges added that after the national security law was enacted, the trio "refused to pull back from the brink and were bent on embracing the resistance line of the Alliance to the very end."

While the judges acknowledged that the activists did not propose specific methods or timelines for ending one-party rule and that the Alliance never advocated violence, they concluded that the defendants promoted the goal of ending one-party dictatorship after the security law's passage. The judges also noted that the activists compared the 2019 anti-extradition protests to the "June 4th Incident," thereby stirring hostility towards the CCP among Hong Kong residents.

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After the national security law was implemented, the trio refused to pull back from the brink and were bent on embracing the resistance line of the Alliance to the very end.