Prominent Hong Kong Freedom Fighters Thrown in Jail for Protesting Chinese Communist Rule
Three prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activists were sentenced to jail on Wednesday for a protest outside police headquarters as authorities stepped up a crackdown on opposition to tighten control by Beijing over the territory.
The activists — Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam — are among more than 10,000 people who have been arrested since June 2019 on charges related to protests against a proposed extradition law that expanded to include demands for greater democracy.
Beijing responded to the protests by imposing a sweeping national security law to crack down on dissent, which prompted more public opposition.
Wong, 24, is known abroad for his role as a student leader of the 2014 “Umbrella Revolution” protests in Hong Kong.
He was sentenced to 13 1/2 months in jail after pleading guilty to organizing and taking part in the June 21, 2019, demonstration outside Hong Kong’s police headquarters.
Chow was sentenced to 10 months by the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts after pleading guilty to participating and inciting other protesters.
Lam pleaded guilty to incitement and was sentenced to 7 months.
The crackdown has prompted accusations that Beijing is violating the autonomy it promised to Hong Kong when the former British colony was handed over to China in 1997.
Other democracy advocates, including media tycoon Jimmy Lai, have also been arrested under the security law.
Hong Kong’s final British governor, Chris Patten, criticized the sentencing, saying in a statement that it “is another grim example of China’s determination to put Hong Kong in handcuffs.”
Maria Adebahr, a spokeswoman for Germany’s foreign ministry, told reporters in Berlin that the sentences are “another building block in a series of worrisome developments that we have seen in connection with human and civil rights in Hong Kong during the last year.”
Amnesty International said the three “must be released immediately and unconditionally.”
“Once again, the government has used the politically motivated charge of ‘inciting others to protest’ to prosecute people who have merely spoken out and protested peacefully,” the group’s Asia-Pacific regional director, Yamini Mishra, said.
“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.”
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
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