Hong Kong Court Convicts Pro-Democracy Leaders of Subversion

A Hong Kong court found Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung guilty of incitement to subversion for organizing annual vigils to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. The defendants, former leaders of the dissolved Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. A third former leader, Albert Ho, had previously pleaded guilty to the same charges.

While the judges acknowledged that the defendants did not advocate for or use violence, the court ruled that their public remembrance of the massacre was intended to provoke hatred toward state power and aimed to end the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party. The court determined these actions violated Hong Kong's national security law.

Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council responded by calling for the immediate release of the activists, characterizing the convictions as political persecution. The council criticized the five-year duration of the proceedings and the prolonged detention of the defendants, arguing that using national security laws to suppress dissent threatens human rights and the rule of law.