Hong Kong Activists Jailed Under National Security Law
Amnesty International condemns the sentencing of Tiananmen vigil organizers in Hong Kong, calling it a 'triple tragedy' and a violation of international
A Hong Kong court has sentenced three activists to prison terms under the city's National Security Law for organizing Tiananmen Square commemorations. Amnesty International has denounced the sentences as an unjust punishment for peaceful activism and a denial of historical memory.
Sentences Imposed
According to Amnesty International, the High Court sentenced lawyer Chow Hang-tung to seven years and three months in prison. Her fellow activist Lee Cheuk-yan received a seven-year sentence. Albert Ho Chun-yan, who had pleaded guilty, was sentenced to five years and two months. All were convicted of "inciting subversion of state power."
Chow and Lee are among seven members of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China who were charged in September 2021. Both have been held in pre-trial detention since then, repeatedly denied bail. Amnesty International designates them as prisoners of conscience.
A 'Triple Tragedy'
Amnesty International's Deputy Regional Director for East and Southeast Asia, Sarah Brooks, called the sentencing a "triple tragedy." She stated it was a tragedy for the activists being punished, for the survivors and victims of the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, and for Hong Kong residents denied the space to discuss a key modern historical event.
"During most of the 30 years that Hongkongers commemorated the Tiananmen crackdown with an annual candlelight vigil, it would have been unthinkable that the organizers of the event could be jailed for their peaceful activism," Brooks said. She argued the case shows how Hong Kong has been transformed under the banner of national security.
Criminalizing Memory and Protest
The organization links the prosecution directly to the National Security Law, which Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in June 2020. Amnesty International has repeatedly raised concerns that this law is used to target civil society, journalists, activists, and academics for actions protected under international human rights law.
Brooks contended that the persecution exposes a profound fear of dissenting voices within Hong Kong's national security framework. "You do not strengthen national security by imprisoning people for peacefully remembering the dead," she stated. She added that history shows demands for truth and accountability do not vanish when criminalized.
Background of the Vigils
The vigil commemorated the events of June 4, 1989, when Chinese troops opened fire on students and workers peacefully protesting for political reforms in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. The source notes hundreds, possibly thousands, were killed, with tens of thousands more arrested across China in the subsequent suppression.
For 37 years, all discussion of the incident has been heavily censored in mainland China, effectively erased from the official historical record. While commemoration was always forbidden on the mainland, Hong Kong saw annual vigils in Victoria Park that drew crowds reaching hundreds of thousands. For three decades, participants called for truth and accountability, and local authorities did not interfere.
The last major vigil organized by the Hong Kong Alliance was in 2019. The gatherings were banned in 2020 and 2021, ostensibly due to Covid-19. Since then, the National Security Law has effectively criminalized such peaceful protests. Amnesty International calls the sentences an insult to victims' memory and an affront to history, demanding the activists' immediate release and protection of their right to appeal.
