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Hong Kong: 17 pro-democracy activists jailed for 16 months

WION Web Team
Hong KongUpdated: Sep 01, 2021, 08:28 PM IST
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Photograph:(AFP)

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The seven pro-democracy activists have been accused and plead guilty of organising and inciting other to conduct illegal assembly in Hong Kong on October 20, 2019

Taking forward the case against the pro-democracy activists of Hong Kong, the court has handed a 16 months long jail sentence to seven activists.

Activists including Figo Chan, a former convenor of the now-disbanded Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF); Raphael Wong and Avery Ng of the League of Social Democrats political party; and former legislators Cyd Ho, Yeung Sum, Albert Ho and Leung Kwok-hung, who is known in Hong Kong as “Long Hair”, have been handed down jail sentences ranging from 11 to 16 months.

However, all the mentioned activists except Raphael Wong had already been serving jail time on accusations of illegal assembly cases.

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The seven pro-democracy activists have been accused and plead guilty of organising and inciting other to conduct illegal assembly in the city on October 20, 2019. The ‘illegal assembly’ was attended by tens of thousands of locals who took to the streets to protest against the rising control of China on Hong Kong and the new security law imposed by China.

Demonstrators were met with tear gas and water cannons which were used by the local police to disperse the crowd.

“Restrictions were applied in the interests of public safety, public order and the protection of others’ rights and freedoms,” Judge Amanda Woodcock told the district court.

The reaction of the police and local administration was highly criticised by international governments and groups from all over the world who saw this as a way of silencing democratic voices.