Two Hong Kong activists who organized annual vigils to commemorate China’s deadly Tiananmen crackdown in 1989 were found guilty of “inciting subversion,” in one of the most high-profile cases in Hong Kong since Beijing imposed its national security law in 2020. Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, and Chow Hang-tung, 41, “incited others to organize, plan, commit or participate in acts by illegal means with a view to subverting the power of the State,” said a press summary given to journalists. The defendants face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Sentencing is expected at a later date. Lee and Chow’s trial began in January and lasted 24 days. A third defendant, former lawmaker Albert Ho, 74, pleaded guilty in January. Chow, who represented herself, told the court in May that the law itself was on trial. Lee and Chow were leaders of a now-disbanded group – the Hong Kong Alliance – that organized the city’s annual vigil in memory of those killed in the crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Beijing in 1989. In court, Lee and Chow greeted supporters from the dock surrounded by prison officials. Lee looked solemn as the judge handed down the verdict. He made a heart-shaped gesture with his hands and waved to his supporters before being led out of the court. Hong Kong and Macau were previously the only places on Chinese soil that allowed public vigils to mourn the dead on June 4, 1989, when the Chinese sent troops and tanks to crush protests calling for political reform in and around the capital’s Tiananmen Square. However, public commemoration has been effectively banned since Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020, following huge and sometimes violent pro-democracy protests the previous year. Police officers stand near the press area outside the West Kowloon magistrates’ courts ahead of the court’s verdict. Photograph: Leung Man Hei/AFP/Getty Images The Alliance leaders were charged in 2021 and have been behind bars since. Before the verdict, Chow wrote a message from prison seen by The Guardian addressed to UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham. “They are trying to rewrite Hong Kong history…they certainly want to erase some memories, or memories of some chapters of our history,” the Cambridge-educated lawyer wrote. In the letter, Chow said that “Britain has a non-delegable duty to take a stronger stance in the face of the growing threat from an aggressive, totalitarian China.” The Alliance motto calls for an “end to one-party government.” The court found that the defendants “intended to cause others to lose confidence in the Chinese Communist Party by provoking hostility and division.” The defense argued that the Alliance was exercising its freedom of expression. Human rights group Amnesty International has said Lee and Chow’s case “is based on vague, overbroad and arbitrary definitions of ‘subversion’.” On Friday. Members of the public had queued for days to get a seat at the Hong Kong court, and some stayed overnight. “To me, this case illustrates Beijing’s absolute power to reshape Hong Kong civil society through the National Security Law,” one supporter told The Guardian. “This result highlights the central government’s complete control over the implementation of national security in the region,” said another supporter. Hong Kong was promised certain political freedoms that were not granted in the rest of the country when it was returned to China in 1997. Critics say the national security law has decimated civil society. Most of the city’s opposition leaders have been detained or fled the city. Authorities say the law was necessary to restore order after a year of protests that rocked the international financial center in 2019.
