45 pro-democracy activists jailed in Hong Kong’s biggest national security case

They were prosecuted under the 2020 national security law for their roles in an unofficial primary election.

Prosecutors said their aim was to paralyse Hong Kong’s government and force the city’s leader to resign by aiming to win a legislative majority and using it to block government budgets indiscriminately.

The unofficial primary held in July 2020 drew 610,000 voters, and its winners had been expected to advance to the official election.

But authorities cancelled the official legislative election, citing public health risks during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Legal scholar Benny Tai, whom the judges called the mastermind, received the longest sentence of 10 years. The judges said the sentences had been reduced for defendants who said they were unaware the plan was unlawful.

But the court said the penalties were not reduced for Tai and former politician Alvin Yeung because they were lawyers who were “absolutely adamant in pushing for the implementation of the scheme”.

In the judgment posted online, the judges wrote that Tai essentially “advocated for a revolution” by publishing a series of articles over a period of months that traced his thinking, even though in a letter seeking a shorter sentence Tai said the steps were “never intended to be used as blueprint for any political action”.

Two of the 47 original defendants were acquitted earlier this year. The rest either pleaded guilty or were found guilty of conspiracy to commit subversion.

The judges said in their verdict that the activists’ plans to effect change through the unofficial primary would have undermined the government’s authority and created a constitutional crisis.

The judges rejected the reasoning from some defendants that the scheme would never have materialised, stating that “all the participants had put in every endeavour to make it a success”.

The judges highlighted that a great deal of time, resources and money were devoted to the organisation of the primary election.

“When the primary election took place on July 10 and 11, no-one had remotely mentioned the fact that primary election was no more than an academic exercise and that the scheme was absolutely unattainable,” the judgment read.

“In order to succeed, the organisers and participants might have hurdles to overcome, that however was expected in every subversion case where efforts were made to overthrow or paralyse a government.”

Some of the defendants waved at their relatives in the courtroom after they were sentenced.

Gwyneth Ho, a journalist-turned-activist who was jailed for seven years, wrote on her Facebook page: “Our true crime for Beijing is that we were not content with playing along in manipulated elections.”

“We dared to confront the regime with the question: Will democracy ever be possible within such a structure? The answer was a complete crackdown on all fronts of society,” she wrote.

Observers said the trial illustrated how authorities suppressed dissent following huge anti-government protests in 2019, alongside media crackdowns and reduced public choice in elections.

The drastic changes reflected how Beijing’s promise to retain the former British colony’s civil liberties for 50 years when it returned to China in 1997 was increasingly threadbare, they said.

Beijing and Hong Kong governments insisted the national security law was necessary for the city’s stability.

The sentencing drew criticism from foreign governments and human rights organisations.

Catherine West, minister for the Indo-Pacific in Britain’s Foreign Office, said the sentencing was a clear demonstration of Hong Kong authorities’ use of the security law to criminalise political dissent.

“Those sentenced today were exercising their right to freedom of speech, of assembly and of political participation,” she said.

Meanwhile, the US Consulate in Hong Kong said America strongly condemned the sentences, saying the defendants were aggressively prosecuted and jailed for participating in normal political activity protected under the city’s mini-constitution.

“We call on (Beijing) and Hong Kong authorities to cease politically motivated prosecutions of Hong Kong citizens and to immediately release all political prisoners and individuals jailed for their peaceful advocacy for rights and freedoms,” it said in a statement.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said no-one should be allowed to use democracy as a pretext to engage in unlawful activities and escape justice.

Mr Lin said certain western countries ignored the fact that they maintained their own national security through judicial procedures while unreasonably criticising Hong Kong courts for “fairly implementing” the security law.

“This severely violates and tramples on the spirit of the rule of law,” he said at a news briefing.

Mr Lin said Beijing firmly opposed what he described as certain western countries’ interference in China’s internal affairs and their attempts to smear Hong Kong’s rule of law.

Hong Kong secretary for security Chris Tang said in a news briefing that the sentences showed those committing national security crimes must be severely punished.