Hong Kong Sentences Three Activists To Prison For Role In Protests Last Year - Reports

Hong Kong Sentences Three Activists to Prison for Role in Protests Last Year - Reports

A local court in China's Hong Kong administrative region has sentenced three prominent pro-democracy activists, including Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam, to prison for their role in a protest outside a police station last year, the Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), a local broadcaster, reported on Wednesday

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd December, 2020) A local court in China's Hong Kong administrative region has sentenced three prominent pro-democracy activists, including Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam, to prison for their role in a protest outside a police station last year, the Radio Television Hong Kong (RTHK), a local broadcaster, reported on Wednesday.

Wong received 13.5 months behind bars, Chow 10 months and Lam 7 months, the RTHK report said.

The three activists were jailed for taking part in a protest that local authorities defined as a "riot" outside a police station in Wan Chai on June 21 of last year.

Local authorities in Hong Kong stepped up their crackdown on activists and protesters who took part in the mass pro-democracy protests in the city last year after the Chinese authorities in Beijing passed the controversial national security law in July.

As one of the most prominent activists in the city, Wong received a number of prison sentences for his role in previous protests.

In the wake of the sentencing announcement, UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab issued a statement calling on the Chinese government to stop targeting opposition activists in Hong Kong.

"As three Hong Kong activists begin prison sentences, I urge the Hong Kong and Beijing authorities to bring an end to their campaign to stifle opposition," Raab wrote in a statement published by the UK Foreign Office.

In a report delivered to the UK Parliament on November 23, Raab said that it was not too late for the Chinese government to "heal divisions" in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region following the introduction of a new security law this past summer.

Despite receiving a prison term, Wong said later in the day that the fight for democracy was not over.

"It's not the end of the fight. Ahead of us is another challenging battleground. We're now joining the battle in prison along with many brave protestors, less visible yet essential in the fight for democracy and freedom for HK," Wong wrote on Twitter

Both local authorities in Hong Kong and Chinese authorities in Beijing argued that the national security law was necessary for safeguarding China's sovereignty and would not infringe upon the civil liberties of local residents.