In brief
Three activists who organized annual vigils for the Tiananmen massacre have received prison terms between five and seven years under Hong Kong’s national security law. Lee Cheuk‑yan was sentenced to seven years, Chow Hang‑tung to seven years and three months and Albert Ho, who pled guilty, to five years. The ruling follows the disbandment of the Hong Kong Alliance, the group that called for accountability and democratic reform. Human rights organisations have decried the verdicts as a triple tragedy for the activists, the victims of the crackdown and ordinary Hong Kongers denied a space to discuss a pivotal event in modern Chinese history.
Three former leaders of a Hong Kong organisation that held annual vigils for the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown have received prison sentences ranging from five to seven years.
Lee Cheuk‑yan, 69, was sentenced to seven years; Chow Hang‑tung, 41, received seven years and three months; and Albert Ho, 74, who pleaded guilty, was given five years.
All three were charged in 2021 under Hong Kong’s national security law, which critics say robs the city of its autonomy and fosters a climate of fear. The law makes a wide range of dissenting acts illegal.
The cases stem from a year‑long series of vigils that the Hong Kong Alliance organized after the Chinese Communist Party sent troops to Shanghai the same year the protests erupted in Beijing. Estimates of the death toll in Tiananmen vary, but the vigils have drawn crowds that sometimes exceed one hundred thousand.
After the sentencing, the court also fined the former alliance over HK$1.5 million for its activities.
Human rights groups have condemned the sentences, describing them as a “triple tragedy” that silences activists, denies memory of the crackdown and stifles public discussion.
