(Helen Davidson's article from the GUARDIAN
UK on 02 December 2020.)
Fellow activists Agnes Chow, 23, and
Ivan Lam, 26, were sentenced to 10 months and seven months respectively. Wong
said last week he expected to be jailed after admitting organising the event
early on in Hong Kong’s recent protest movement, which began with millions
marching against an extradition bill before growing into a broader
pro-democracy push.
At the West Kowloon magistrates court on Wednesday, the 24-year-old was sentenced to a total of 13 and a half months in jail for organising and inciting others to attend an unlawful assembly outside the police headquarters in June 2019.
The
judge, Wong Sze-lai, took the prior records of Lam and Wong into account and
said jail time was the only appropriate option in order to deter others. “The
court has considered that the offending period of the three defendants lasted
for around 15 minutes and all the facts of the case, including that they
committed the offence in a joint enterprise under the prevailing circumstances
of increasing incidents of social unrest and large scale public protests, which
in the court’s view, made the case more serious,” the judge said.
Hong Kong’s
mini-constitution protects the right to free assembly. Wong and others were
high-profile members of the protest movement, but it was considered to be
largely leaderless. The three were jailed immediately, and an application from
Chow for bail pending an appeal was reportedly rejected.
Wong had pleaded guilty to organising
and incitement, Lam to incitement, and Chow to incitement and attending. Wong
and Lam had initially intended to fight the charges, until announcing on the
eve of the trial that they would plead guilty to some. Chow, who is also facing
potential charges under the national security law after being arrested in
August, had already determined to plead guilty in the hope of a less sentence.
Before
leaving court last week, Wong shouted: “Everyone hang in there, add oil,” using
a phrase of encouragement meaning “let’s go” commonly heard at protests. As he
was led away on Wednesday, he shouted: “I will hang in there.”
The three were denied bail after entering their pleas and taken into remand. Wong was held in solitary confinement after an X-ray reportedly showed a “shadow” in his stomach, according to a post on the activist’s social media page. Both Wong and Lam have been previously incarcerated, but it was the first time on remand for Chow, who turns 24 on Thursday. She recently said she was struggling mentally while being held, and was visibly distressed during Wednesday’s sentencing.
More
than 10,000 protesters have been arrested over Hong Kong’s pro-democracy
protests, many on questionable charges of rioting and unauthorised assembly
that have not held up in court. Chow and Wong gained notoriety during the
79-day “umbrella movement” protests in 2014 that demanded universal suffrage
for Hongkongers.
As a
result of those protests, Wong, Chow, and their fellow activist now living in
the UK, Nathan Law, co-founded the pro-democracy Demosisto political party. Its
four candidates elected to the legislative council were disqualified for
modifying the oath of office when they tried to take their seats. The party was
formally disbanded after the introduction of the national security law in June.
Law
said the sentencing constituted “another blatant attack on the Hong Kong
activists, whose wishes are solely bringing democracy to Hong Kong”. The UK
foreign minister, Dominic Raab, said prosecutions must be fair and impartial,
and the rights and freedoms of Hong Kongers upheld. “I urge the Hong Kong and
Beijing authorities to bring an end to their campaign to stifle opposition,” he
said.
Wong
and Chow are two of the most high-profile figures of the pro-democracy
movement. After Wong’s arrest in September, the British foreign secretary,
Dominic Raab, said he was “deeply concerned” and described it as “another
example of HK authorities targeting activists”.
Wong
has maintained a defiant approach during the court case, saying last week: “I
am persuaded that neither prison bars, nor election ban, nor any other
arbitrary powers would stop us from activism.”
Chow,
who gave up her British citizenship to run in Hong Kong elections, was one of
the first Demosisto politicians barred from standing for office because the
party advocated “self-determination”.
One of
her most successful roles has been bringing international attention to Hong
Kong’s democracy movement, aided by her fluency in English, Cantonese and
Japanese. She built a huge social media following in Japan in particular. Chow
was arrested in August under the national security law, on the vague suspicion
of “colluding with foreign forces”.
At
least 31 people have been arrested under the national security law imposed by
Beijing in late June, which outlaws a broad range of acts as sedition,
secession, foreign collusion, and terrorism.
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