Organizers of Hong Kong’s Tiananmen vigils sentenced to up to 7 years and 3 months in national security case
The court also fined the disbanded Hong Kong Alliance HK$1.5 million after judges said the group’s campaign sought to undermine Communist Party rule.
- On Friday, September 11, 2026, a Hong Kong court sentenced three former Tiananmen vigil organizers—Chow Hang-tung, Lee Cheuk-yan, and Albert Ho—to prison for inciting subversion under a Beijing-imposed national security law at the West Kowloon Law Courts Building.
- In August, three government-approved judges convicted the trio, ruling their organization's demand to "end one-party dictatorship" carried the notion of overthrowing the Communist Party leadership through unlawful means, criminalizing speech previously considered protected.
- Before sentencing, Chow wrote that the verdict suggests "pursuing democracy is a crime," stating, "I would rather be a criminal than a person who betrays their conscience." Lee testified his calls for reform stemmed from love for the people, not enmity.
- The disappearance of the annual candlelight vigil at Victoria Park marks the end of public commemorations that distinguished Hong Kong's civil liberties. Urania Chiu, an Oxford Brookes University law lecturer, said the national security law "blurred the boundaries between the two systems."
- Beijing defends the security laws as necessary to restore order, while critics argue the case symbolizes the erosion of the rule of law. Zhou Fengsuo, a former Tiananmen Square protester, told CNN, "Authorities can extinguish the candles in Victoria Park, but they cannot extinguish the memory.
162 Articles
162 Articles
Hong Kong Tiananmen Vigil Organizers Get Long Sentences
A Hong Kong court sentenced three activists who for years organized vigils in memory of China's 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown to prison for terms ranking from 5 to over 7 years in prison on Friday in a case that is ideally seen as a barometer of the city's freedoms as...
Activism: Hong Kong activists organized commemorations for the Tiananmen protests in 1989. Such commemorations have been since the introduction of the…
By the end of August they were found guilty of incitement to subversion for organizing the commemorations. All condemned under the law on national security imposed on the city six years ago by China
Three pro-democracy activists from Hong Kong who organized annual vigils in memory of the victims of the repression of Celestial Peace Square (Tiananmen), in China, were sentenced this Friday to five to seven years and three months in prison. The trial and sentences were criticized by Taiwan and organizations such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Want more news from the World? Follow the channel on WhatsApp Want to live away? See…
Beijing, Sep 11 (EFE).- China expressed its support this Friday for the sentence of a Hong Kong court of up to seven years and three months in prison to three former leaders of the organization who for decades called vigils for the victims of Tiananmen, after finding them guilty of "incitement to subversion." [...] The entry Hong Kong convicts up to 7 years and 3 months to organizers of vigils by Tiananmen was first published in HolaNews.
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