File photo of the winners of the unofficial primary polls at a press conference in Hong Kong on July 15, 2020. - AFP
HONG KONG: A Hong Kong court on Tuesday (Nov 19) jailed all 45 defendants convicted in the city’s largest trial under its sweeping national security law, with “mastermind” Benny Tai receiving the longest sentence of 10 years.
Tai’s jail term is the longest yet handed out under the law, which was imposed by Beijing in 2020 to quash dissent after massive, sometimes violent pro-democracy protests the year before.
The group, which included figures from across Hong Kong’s once-diverse political spectrum, was charged after they held an informal poll in 2020 as part of a strategy to win a pro-democracy electoral majority.
Along with Tai, pro-democracy politicians Au Nok-hin, Andrew Chiu, Ben Chung and Australian citizen Gordon Ng were singled out as organisers and received sentences of up to seven years three months.
The court also sentenced former youth activist Joshua Wong, 28, to four years and eight months in prison.
The outcome is likely to further deter dissent in the finance hub and attract condemnation from Western governments.
The US has called the case “politically motivated” and vowed to put visa curbs on officials responsible for carrying out Beijing’s national security crackdown.
Tai and Wong were among 47 activists accused of subversion under a China-imposed security law for holding unofficial primary polls in 2020, which saw more than 600,000 voters choose candidates for Legislative Council elections.
The Hong Kong authorities claim that the event was part of an illegal attempt to paralyse the government, and the Chinese government accused them of seeking a “colour revolution”.
The mass arrests in 2021 effectively silenced the city’s entire political opposition, and most of the accused have been denied bail.
The landmark case, together with the trial of Jimmy Lai that resumes on Nov 20, comes as Hong Kong is hosting a summit with global financial leaders aimed at bolstering its status as an international finance hub. The sentencing could further inflame the city’s geopolitical ties.
America is weeks away from the return of President-elect Donald Trump, whose first administration hit Chinese officials with sanctions over its assertive Hong Kong policies.
The US government in May warned that imposing harsh sentences will only “further erode confidence in Hong Kong’s judicial system”, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said earlier in 2024.
“These national security cases have already made their mark and will no doubt further do so when expected harsh sentences are reached,” said Mr Michael Davis, global fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars in Washington.
“Hong Kong’s big attraction was always its reliable rule of law and openness,” he added. “With such diminished rule of law, some companies move their offices and others cut back.”
Wong’s sentencing will mark the end of a remarkable political career that saw him become the global poster child of Hong Kong’s democracy movement. As a bespectacled high school student, he began dabbling in activism at age 15, when he helped thwart a plan to introduce mandatory patriotic education into Hong Kong schools.
Two years later, he shot to fame alongside Tai by fronting a sit-in that put the city’s fight for democracy under a global spotlight. Thousands of protesters took over thoroughfares at the heart of the city’s business district, carrying umbrellas as shields against police pepper spray – earning the Umbrella Movement moniker.
But while Wong has the bigger international profile, Tai is accused of being the mastermind of the unsanctioned primaries and is facing up to life in prison for organising the polls. Wong, considered a participant, is looking at as long as 10 years behind bars. The least serious offenders are expected to get at most three years under a three-tiered sentencing framework.
A new national security law passed in March dealt a blow to some activists hoping to be freed shortly after having already served more than three years before sentencing. The legislation, known as Article 23, made it harder for people convicted of a national security offence to get a one-third sentence reduction for good behaviour, a change being challenged in the High Court.
Their cases come amid rising concerns about the future of the rule of law in Hong Kong, after a record exodus from the Court of Final Appeals of foreign judges – long touted by local officials as a selling point for foreign companies.
The UK’s Lord Jonathan Sumption resigned from Hong Kong’s top court in June, warning of “grave danger” to the coveted legal system. Hong Kong rebutted Mr Sumption’s critique and denied that courts are under any political pressure from Beijing and the local authorities.
Thirty-one of the accused in Nov 19’s case pleaded guilty, while another 14 were convicted after denying the charges. Two were acquitted in May, ending a conviction streak under the law since Beijing imposed it in 2020.
Others set to learn their fates include former lawmakers Claudia Mo and Leung Kwok Hung, better known as Long Hair, and journalist-turned-activist Gwyneth Ho. - Agencies
