Hong Kong’s Tiananmen Square Activists Guilty in National Security Trial
Two Hong Kong activists who organized annual vigils to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown have been found guilty of inciting others to subvert state power under the city’s controversial national security law.
Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, and Chow Hang-tung, 41, face a maximum penalty of 10 years in jail after being convicted under the China-introduced law. Sentencing is expected at a later date. A third defendant, Albert Ho, 74, pleaded guilty in January.
According to a summary from the court, Lee and Chow "incited other persons to organize, plan, commit or participate in acts by unlawful means with a view to subverting the state power." Chow had told the court in May that the law itself was on trial.
Hong Kong used to be one of the only places in Chinese territory where people could gather to mark the deadly 1989 crackdown against pro-democracy protesters. Authorities banned these gatherings in 2020, citing COVID-19 policies, but they have never resumed. This was also the year the national security law, which makes illegal a wider range of dissenting acts, officially came into force.
In mainland China, authorities have banned even oblique references to the 1989 crackdown.
The Hong Kong Alliance (HKA), founded in May 1989 to support students holding pro-democracy rallies, was led by Lee and Chow. Over the next three decades, HKA called on authorities to accept responsibility for the crackdown, free dissidents, and introduce democratic reform. The Alliance’s leaders were charged in 2021 and have been behind bars since.
Rights group Amnesty International has stated that the case "relies on vague, overly broad, and arbitrary definitions of ‘subversion.’" Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director, said Chow and Lee had "not committed any recognizable crime." She added, "Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan are prisoners of conscience who should never have been prosecuted in the first place. They must be released immediately and unconditionally."
In a separate case, Chow was arrested in June 2021 for "inciting" the public to take part in that year’s vigil and later found guilty. However, Hong Kong’s top court overturned that conviction in 2022, with a judge ruling the police hadn’t properly justified the vigil’s prohibition.
