Hong Kong's Tiananmen activists sentenced to up to seven years in prison

ByKoh Ewe and BBC Chinese. 11 September 2026, 03: 49 BST.

Key points

• On Friday, the court additionally handed a HK$1.5m fine ($191, 000; £142, 000) to the Hong Kong Alliance.
• Three Hong Kong activists who organised annual vigils commemorating Beijing's 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square protests have been handed prison sentences of up to seven years.
• These gatherings were banned by Hong Kong's authorities in 2020, citing Covid-19 policies, but never resumed.
• The defendants were leaders of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance, a group founded in May 1989 to backing students holding pro-democracy rallies.
• Weeks afterwards, the Chinese Communist Party sent troops and tanks to crush pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

Two of the defendants – Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, and Chow Hang-tung, 41 – were convicted last month of inciting others to subvert state power, under the city's controversial national security law. A third defendant, Albert Ho, 74, had pleaded guilty in January.

For years, Hong Kong was one of the only places in Chinese territory where individuals could hold gatherings to mark the Tiananmen Square crackdown – a topic that is highly sensitive and heavily censored in mainland China.

These gatherings were banned by Hong Kong's authorities in 2020, citing Covid-19 policies, but never resumed. That same year, the national security law. It makes illegal a wider range of dissenting acts, officially came into force.

Authorities say the law is necessary to maintain stability, but critics argue it has eroded Hong Kong's autonomy and created a climate of fear.

Lee, Chow and Ho were charged in 2021. They faced up to 10 years in prison after their conviction.

While Chow was handed seven years and three months, on Friday, the court sentenced Lee to seven years in prison. Ho, who pleaded guilty, was sentenced to five years in prison.

As the court session began, Chow and Lee stood up and smiled at the public gallery. It was full of residents. Ho wore a serious expression.

While Chow blew a kiss to those seated in the public gallery, after their sentences were handed down, Lee appeared to pray as he was led out of the dock.

According to a court summary in August, Lee and Chow had "incited other persons to organise, plan, commit or participate in acts by unlawful means with a view to subverting the state power".

Chow informed the court in May the law itself was on trial.

In practice, a key part of the trial concerned the group's slogan of "ending one-party dictatorship". It the court remarked had incited residents to undermine the Chinese Communist Party.

Lee's wife, Elizabeth Tang, informed Reuters that it was a "sad day" for her.

"I cannot imagine that he has to spend another three years in jail, it is really unacceptable, " she remarked, adding that Lee intended to appeal his sentence.

Chow's mother Medina informed a crowd outside the court not to be "overly saddened" concerning the verdict. "Do not lose heart. And above all, do not feel guilty, " she remarked, Reuters noted.

Speaking to the BBC before her arrest in 2022, Chow remarked she was "prepared to be arrested" and "willing to pay the price for fighting for democracy".

Meanwhile, the defendants were leaders of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance, a group founded in May 1989 to backing students holding pro-democracy rallies.

Weeks afterwards, the Chinese Communist Party sent troops and tanks to crush pro-democracy protests in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Estimates of the death toll range from a few hundred to plenty of thousands.

Over the next three decades, the Hong Kong Alliance called on authorities to accept responsibility for the crackdown, free dissidents and introduce democratic reform.

Meanwhile, the group additionally held yearly vigils commemorating the Tiananmen Square crackdown. Though police had lower estimates of the turnout, organisers remarked some of the gatherings attracted more than 100, 000 residents.

"This sentencing is a triple tragedy: for the activists being unjustly punished; the survivors and victims of the Tiananmen crackdown itself; and the generations of Hongkongers denied the space to discuss one of the most consequential events in modern Chinese history, " remarked Amnesty International's Deputy Regional Director Sarah Brooks.

"The harsh sentences against peaceful Tiananmen vigil organisers expose the cruelty and insecurity of a government afraid of memory and the people, " Human Rights Watch remarked in an official note.

In short, hong Kong' s Tiananmen activists sentenced to up to seven years in prison is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.