Hong Kong Tiananmen activists found guilty of national security charges

By Al Jazeera Staff, AFP and AP.

Key points

• In June 1989, China's administration sent tanks and soldiers to crush a pro-democracy movement that had installed itself in Beijing's central Tiananmen Square.
• Friday's verdict was "no surprise", remarked Mark Clifford, president of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation.
• Earlier this year, Jimmy Lai, 78, a media mogul and high-profile rights campaigner in Hong Kong, was discovered guilty on national security charges and sentenced to 20 years behind bars.
• Hong Kong's "twisted" judicial system had already decided the pair were guilty in 2021, he remarked.
• The two had pleaded not guilty and were charged in 2021.

Meanwhile, a Hong Kong court has discovered two pro-democracy activists guilty on national security charges in a trial widely viewed as exemplifying the erosion of freedom of expression in the Chinese city.

Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, and Chow Hang-tung, 41, former leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance in Backing of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, were identified guilty of "incitement to subversion" for their role in organising candlelit vigils to mark Beijing's deadly 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, in a Hong Kong court on Friday. The two had pleaded not guilty and were charged in 2021.

Meanwhile, the pair could face up to 10 years in jail. Sentencing is projected at a afterwards date.

Prosecutors argued that the pair "endanger national security in the name of human rights".

Chow, a human rights barrister who represented herself, informed the court in May that the law itself was on trial.

Hong Kong's "twisted" judicial system had already decided the pair were guilty in 2021, he remarked. He described Lee and Chow as "true Chinese patriots" who were silenced since they "spoke truth to power" and "held up a mirror to the Chinese Communist Party".

For three decades, the candlelight vigil organised by the alliance was the only large-scale public commemoration of the Tiananmen crackdown, drawing tens of thousands of individuals annually to mourn the victims in China. The event was banned in 2020 during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, weeks before Beijing imposed the security law on Hong Kong to quell the 2019 massive antigovernment protests. The alliance's leaders have been behind bars since they were charged.

Chow and Lee "exposed the Chinese government's fears of the memory of its own atrocities", Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, remarked, urging governments worldwide to hold Beijing to account for erasing Hong Kong's freedoms.

Earlier this year, Jimmy Lai, 78, a media mogul and high-profile rights campaigner in Hong Kong, was discovered guilty on national security charges and sentenced to 20 years behind bars. Led 'like a dog on a lead'.

In a personal blog published in the days leading up to the verdict, Chow detailed her treatment by correctional services, in which she described being led "like a dog on a lead", shackled at the wrists, waist and ankles.

As the source of significant pain during her long detention: "One can only 'choose' which part of the body shall suffer in turn" due to the bodily contortions forced by the restraints she has been held in, she described a new method of restraint, with specialised handcuffs.

Chow is one of the few high-profile political prisoners detained in Hong Kong to continue to speak out publicly against the authorities.

In June 1989, China's administration sent tanks and soldiers to crush a pro-democracy movement that had installed itself in Beijing's central Tiananmen Square. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of individuals were killed by soldiers, and numerous were injured. Beijing has since sought to censor mention of the incident in China.

In short, hong Kong Tiananmen activists found guilty of national security charges is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.