Former leaders Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung have been found guilty of subverting the state in Hong Kong. The duo, who headed the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China,now face a maximum ten-year prison term.
The 10-year risk under the 2020 National Security Law
The convictions of Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung stem from charges of inciting subevrsion under a 2020 national security law. According to the report, this legislation was introduced by China and has been instrumental in dismantling the pro-democracy movement within Hong Kong. The law has already been used in high-profile cases, including the imprisonment of media executive Jimmy Lai.
The court's ruling targets the specific activities of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements in China.. The judges determined that the defendants intentionally encouraged supporters to seek the end of a one-party dictatorship through unlawful means, claiming the pair refused to "pull back from the brink" despite the legal risks.
Defining 'End One-Party Dictatorship' as Subversion
A central pillar of the verdict is the court's interpretation of political language. The judges ruled that the phrase "end one-party dictatorship" was not a mere call for reform but a direct attempt to overthrow the leadership status of the Communist Party. As the source notes, the court concluded that the word "end" specifically implied undermining and overthrowing the existing constitutional order.
This legal interpretation effectively criminalizes the annual candlelight vigils that Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung organized to remember the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. Those events were once the only large-scale public commemorations of the massacre,where soldiers killed an estimated 1,000 or more pro-democracy protesters. While the vigils drew tens of thousands of people for decades, they were banned in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequently made permanently illegal.
Rosie Winterton and the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration
The verdict has triggered a wave of international condemnation , with particular focus on the breach of historical agreements. Rosie Winterton, the UK Foreign Office's Indo-Pacific minister, stated that the verdict demonstrates how peaceful acts of remembrance are now viewed as national security threats.. Winterton argued that the use of the security law undermines the commitments China made under the 1984 Sino-British joint declaration.
Critics, including those cited in the report, argue that the current administration under Xi Jinping has stripped away civil liberties that were promised to be preserved for 50 years following the city's handover from Britain. this shift follows the large-scale unrest and protests that gripped Hong Kong in 2019, which prompted Beijing to tighten its grip on the territory's governance.
The pending plea for lesser penalties for Lee and Chow
Despite the guilty verdict, the legal process for Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung is not yet complete. The pair are expected to plead for lesser penalties at a future hearing, though the report does not specify the exact date for this sentencing. It remains unclear whether the court will consider the peaceful nature of the vigils as a mitigating factor or if the maximum ten-year sentence will be pursued to set a deterrent.
The broader international community continues to monitor the case. mark Clifford of the Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation, Amnesty International, and UN Secretary-General António Guterres have all expressed concern over the restriction of peaceful expression. For many Hong Kongers, the only remaining escape from this legal environment has been the special UK visa introduced in 2021, which allows residents to relocate to Britain.
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