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Conviction for Tiananmen vigils
A Hong Kong court found two pro-democracy activists guilty on national security charges for their role in organising candlelit vigils to mark Beijing’s deadly 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, with Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, and Chow Hang-tung, 41, convicted of “incitement to subversion” in a trial widely viewed as exemplifying the erosion of freedom of expression in the Chinese city.
“were found guilty of “incitement to subversion””
The activists, former leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, were found guilty in a Hong Kong court on Friday after being charged in 2021 and pleading not guilty.
The pair could face up to 10 years in jail, and sentencing was expected at a later date, while prosecutors argued that the pair “endanger[ed] national security in the name of human rights”.
In the courtroom, Chow told the court in May that the law itself was on trial, and the verdict was “no surprise”, said Mark Clifford, president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation.
International backlash and courtroom
The ruling drew international criticism, with France and Germany saying they “deeply regret” the conviction of the activists and calling for their immediate release, while a joint statement posted on social media said Chow Hang-tung worked “tirelessly to promote human rights and democracy in China, in particular in Hong Kong”.
Former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi posted that “The unjust prosecution of Lee Cheuk-yan, Chow Hang-tung and Albert Ho is a shameful act of political persecution and further evidence of China’s campaign to extinguish freedom in Hong Kong.”
In Hong Kong, Mark Clifford said the “twisted” judicial system had already decided the pair were guilty in 2021, and he described Lee and Chow as “true Chinese patriots” who were silenced because they “spoke truth to power”.
Human Rights Watch’s Elaine Pearson said the convictions showed “how public displays of mourning have become a crime in Hong Kong,” as the BBC reported Lee and Chow smiled and waved at the public gallery before leaving the courtroom.
What the case signals next
The case centered on annual candlelit vigils that had been the only large-scale public commemoration of the Tiananmen crackdown for three decades, but the event was banned in 2020 during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, weeks before Beijing imposed the security law on Hong Kong to quell the 2019 massive antigovernment protests.
“The event was banned in 2020 during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic”
Hong Kong’s crackdown context included that the alliance’s leaders have been behind bars since they were charged, and the BBC reported that a third defendant, Albert Ho, pleaded guilty in January and was expected to be sentenced at a later date.
The trial’s framing also extended to how the national security law treated remembrance, with the BBC quoting the summary that Lee and Chow “incited other persons to organise, plan, commit or participate in acts by unlawful means with a view to subverting the state power”.
Amnesty International said the case “relies on vague, overly broad and arbitrary definitions of ‘subversion’”, and Sarah Brooks, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director, said Chow and Lee had “not committed any recognisable crime,” as the BBC described the convictions as a bellwether for freedom of expression in the Chinese city.