In a historic national security trial, Hong Kong imprisons forty-five democracy campaigners.

In a historic national security trial that has harmed the city’s once-feisty democracy movement and sparked international condemnation, Hong Kong’s High Court convicted 45 pro-democracy activists to prison terms of up to 10 years on Tuesday.
In 2021, 47 pro-democracy activists were detained and accused of conspiring to subvert a national security statute enforced by Beijing. They were given prison terms of up to life in prison.
The 2020 national security law’s maximum sentence to date was 10 years in prison for Benny Tai, a former law professor who was recognized as a “organizer” of the activists.
The trial has drawn criticism from some Western nations. The United States has called the trial “politically motivated” and stated that the Democrats should be freed because they had been “peacefully participating in political activities” that were within the law.
Following large-scale pro-democracy demonstrations in 2019, the Chinese and Hong Kong governments claim that the national security laws were required to restore order, and that the democrats have been treated in compliance with local regulations.
Closely watched trial
The charges related to the organising of an unofficial “primary election” in 2020 to select the best candidates for an upcoming legislative election. The activists were accused by prosecutors of plotting to paralyse the government by engaging in potentially disruptive acts had they been elected.
After a 118 day trial, 14 of the democrats were found guilty in May, including Australian citizen Gordon Ng and activist Owen Chow, while two were acquitted. The other 31 pleaded guilty.
Sentences ranged from just over four years to 10 years.
Prominent Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong was sentenced to four years and eight months in jail, while Chow was sentenced to seven years and nine months; former journalist-turned-activist Gwyneth Ho, was sentenced to seven years.
Elsa Wu, the mother of Hendrick Lui, who was sentenced to more than four years in jail, was taken away in a police van outside the courtroom and shouted: “He’s a good person … he’s not a political prisoner … why does he have to go to jail?”
She screamed before police slammed the van door.
Hundreds of people had queued from the early hours outside the court, many holding umbrellas in light rain as they tried to secure a seat within the main courtroom and several spillover courts.Authorities deployed a tight police presence outside the West Kowloon Magistrates Court and for several blocks in the vicinity.
“I feel such an injustice needs witnessing,” said one woman who gave her name as Margaret and had been in the queue since Sunday afternoon. “I’ve long followed their case. They (the democrats) need to know they still have public support.”
The ruling, which critics have said tarnishes Hong Kong’s role as a global financial hub, comes as the city is hosting an international financial summit to attract more business.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee as secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has been a staunch critic of the trial and in an earlier open letter criticised the convictions of the 47 democrats as evidence of the national security law’s “comprehensive assault on Hong Kong’s autonomy, rule of law, and fundamental freedoms.”
Britain, which handed Hong Kong back to China in 1997, has said the 2020 security law has been used to curb dissent and freedom.