Activists face jail over Hong Kong democracy rally

Nine veteran Hong Kong activists await prison sentences after they were convicted yesterday over their roles in an unauthorised assembly at the height of the protest movement that engulfed the territory in 2019.

The defendants feature some of the city’s most prominent and moderate pro-democracy figures including distinguished barristers Martin Lee, (82) and Margaret Ng (73).

Mr Lee is known widely as the “father of democracy” and helped draft Hong Kong’s mini-constitution. Media tycoon Jimmy Lai (72), currently in custody after his arrest under Beijing’s new national security law, was among those convicted.

Their landmark trial, say analysts, signals the further erosion of the rule of law and the basic rights and freedoms guaranteed under the Sino-British Joint Declaration that underpinned the handing back of the former British colony to China in 1997.

The conviction was linked to a mass rally on August 18, 2019, which was one of a chain of protests where crowds took to the streets to demand universal suffrage, greater police accountability and the abolition of a controversial extradition bill to allow for criminal suspects to be sent to mainland China.

Organisers claimed 1.7 million people gathered that day in Victoria Park on Hong Kong’s main island, in what was to become one of the largest rallies of the pro-democracy movement.

The police had given permission for the assembly in the park, but the prosecution accused the group of nine of defying police instructions and encouraging protesters to march through surrounding streets, blocking traffic.

Protests in Hong Kong require the permission of authorities – a restriction that rights groups have long claimed can be misused.

The group’s lawyers argued that leading protesters out of the overcrowded park was a necessary safety measure. The mass demonstration remained peaceful throughout the day.

The arrest of the high-profile activists last April was heavily criticised by democratic governments including the US and UK and by the international legal community.

All defendants will next appear in court on April 16 when mitigation pleas will be heard before sentencing.

The charges carry a maximum penalty of five years in jail and the outcome will be observed as setting a possible precedent for trials for similar charges later this year.

“They didn’t do anything wrong when you view what they did through the lens of international human rights,” said Margaret Lewis, a law professor and China expert at Seton Hall University.

“They shouldn’t have to argue for mitigation when the very basis of their conviction is fundamentally flawed

“The very basis of these convictions is antithetical to fundamental freedoms that are supposed to be guaranteed in Hong Kong."

Seven defendants pleaded not guilty but two former legislators, Au Nok-hin and Leung Yiu-chung, pleaded guilty.

Judge Amanda Woodcock granted bail to all but three, including Mr Lai, as they face additional charges.

(© Telegraph Media Group Ltd 2021).

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2021]