In Hong Kong, two activists were found guilty of inciting the overthrow of the government
A Hong Kong court on Thursday found two pro-democracy activists guilty of inciting subversion of state power under the national security law enacted by Beijing. According to Deutsche Welle English, the defendants are 69-year-old Lee Cheuk-yan and 41-year-old Chow Han-tung.
According to a court summary distributed to journalists, the activists were found guilty of inciting others to organize, plan, commit, or participate in illegal acts with the aim of subverting state power. They were charged in 2021, and both pleaded not guilty.
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Li Chek-yang and Zhou Han-tong organized candlelight vigils to commemorate the 1989 crackdown on protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. At that time, Chinese authorities deployed troops and tanks against protesters demanding political reforms.
Prosecutors claimed that the activists were endangering national security in the name of human rights. Public commemorations of the Tiananmen Square crackdown in Hong Kong were effectively banned following the enactment of the National Security Law in 2020. The law was passed following large-scale anti-government pro-democracy protests in the city in 2019. Activists face up to 10 years in prison, and their sentences will be handed down at a later date.
