Hong Kong democracy activists Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam were jailed Dec. 2 for their roles in a pro-democracy rally in 2019, in what is the toughest and most high-profile sentencing of opposition figures in the Chinese city this year.
About 100 supporters gathered quietly at the Hong Kong court ahead of the sentencing, while a smaller group of pro-Beijing people also rallied to call for a hefty prison sentence.
The trio had pled guilty to charges of organizing and inciting an unauthorized assembly near police headquarters during last year’s pro-democracy protests.
The sentencing comes as critics say the Beijing-backed government is intensifying a crackdown on Hong Kong’s opposition and wide-ranging freedoms guaranteed after the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Wong, 24, one of Hong Kong’s most prominent democracy activists, was jailed for 13-1/2 months while Agnes Chow, 23, will serve 10 months, and Lam, 26, will serve seven months.
“I know the coming days will be tougher. We will hang in there,” Wong shouted after the sentence was read out.
“It’s not the end of the fight,” Wong said later through his lawyer.
“Ahead of us is another challenging battleground. We’re now joining the battle in prison along with many brave protesters, less visible yet essential in the fight for democracy and freedom for Hong Kong,” he said.
Wong’s long-time colleagues Chow and Ivan Lam were sentenced on charges linked to the same protest that surrounded police headquarters on June 21, 2019 to demand the government withdraw a now-shelved extradition bill.
Chow, who cried inside the court room on hearing her sentence, had pleaded guilty to incitement and participation in an unlawful protest, while Lam pleaded guilty to incitement.
Ahead of sentencing, the judge read a letter from Wong’s mother to the court in which she said her son was “a young person who cares about society and is persistent in his ideals”.
Under Hong Kong’s handover agreement in 1997, Beijing promised to maintain the free-wheeling city’s way of life for 50 years under a “one country, two systems” formula, although some fear 2047 is arriving early as authorities tighten their grip.
Rights groups and critics of Beijing have been swift to condemn the court ruling.
“By targeting well-known activists from Hong Kong’s largely leaderless protest movement, authorities are sending a warning to anyone who dares openly criticize the government that they could be next,” Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Regional Director Yamini Mishra said.
In the lead up to the sentencing Maya Wang, senior China researcher at Human Rights Watch, said the trio had not done anything wrong.
“Chinese Communist Party think they’re asserting control, but then as now, it’s merely turning up the heat in a pressure cooker ready to explode,” she tweeted.
Elaine Yu, a freelance journalist in Hong Kong, tweeted that she was thinking of how Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow’s paths tell a bigger story about their generation in Hong Kong.
“Weeks ago, they both proudly announced having finally graduated from college/attended their ceremony (after years of juggling activism with their studies). Today they go to jail,” she said.
Public figures overseas have likewise slated the imprisoning of the trio.
“Their totally unjust sentencing today is an example of the outrageous authoritarianism which the Chinese Communist Party regime has imposed on Hong Kong and it requires a robust response from the international community,” said David Alton a member of the UK’s House of Lords.
“The time has come for more than words — it is time for targeted sanctions against the regime in Beijing and its proxies in the Hong Kong government who have destroyed Hong Kong’s liberties and autonomy and trampled on promises made in an international treaty,” he said.
In a 2019 interview with Religion Unplugged, Chow said her Catholic faith inspired people to join the pro-democracy movement.
A familiar face at democracy protests since he was a teenager, Wong was less than a year old when Hong Kong returned to Beijing 23 years ago with a guarantee of freedoms not enjoyed on the mainland, including freedom of speech and assembly.
Democracy activists say Beijing is rapidly chipping away at those freedoms, with the imposition of a national security law on June 30 seen as the latest blow to the city’s liberties, which are crucial for its status as a global financial hub.
In recent months, the Hong Kong government has expelled opposition lawmakers from the legislature, disqualified pro-democracy candidates from running in a now-postponed election and arrested more than 30 people under the security legislation.
The expulsion of opposition lawmakers prompted democrats to resign en masse, leaving the legislature devoid of any opposition democrats for the first time since Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule.
With Reuters
