Hong Kong court convicts 14 activists under the deeds of subversion. The verdict came in today morning with the court finding 14 out of the 16 accused who appeared in the court ‘guilty’ under the national security law . The other two accused who appeared in the court were acquitted which was shocking as they were the first people to be found not guilty under the national security law. These activists were part of the” Hong Kong 47”, a 47 member activist group who fought in the pro democracy movements in Hong Kong.
High Court judges Andrew Chan, Alex Lee, and Johnny Chan ruled out the court’s statement stating they would have “[created] a constitutional crisis for Hong Kong” if they had indeed been elected to the legislature. Evidence was surrendered in the court that included letters and campaign materials that were found in the accused’s device and homes. The sentence of the convicts will be announced later. The cases of subversion are usually sentenced to life imprisonment. After the verdict western countries expressed their displeasure of the verdict stating it as a politically influenced verdict.
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The arrested activists include Leung Kwok-hung and Helena Wong, Gwyneth Ho, nurse Winnie Yu who were the few of the activists convicted today in court. According to the BBC report Maya Wang, Human Rights Watch’s acting China director, responded to the verdict stating “Democracy is not a crime, regardless of what the Chinese government and its handpicked Hong Kong court may say, Beijing promised Hong Kong people universal suffrage. It is Beijing that needs to be held accountable for repeatedly reneging on these promises, and for blatantly erasing the basic human rights guaranteed in Hong Kong laws and functional constitution.” Her statements were a straight discard to the national security law imposed by china.
Photo credit: yahoo news Singapore
Who are the Hong Kong 47?
This group is a 47 member activist group who participated in several pro-democracy movements raising demands for free and fair elections that brought in freedom and democracy to the country. They protested against an opposition free legislature in Hong Kong. The members of the group included Benny Tai , Joshua Wang , Andrew Chiu, Ben Chung, Gordon Ng, Li-Ka tat , Tat Cheng , Eddie Chu and more. These activists were arrested 3 years ago in 2021 by the national security department for breaking the national security law.
Benny Tai was one of the prominent activists in the group. His vision was to make Hong Kong an independent country. He also formed pro-democracy movements in 2019 but was later prisoned for his role in it. He organized pro-democracy camps in 2020 to select candidates for 2020 elections in hopes to raise their demands. But was later arrested on the grounds of subversion while executing his movements and protests .
Another important figure , Joshua Wang was one of the most popular activists in the Hong Kong 47 movement .He started to protest at early the age of 14. He participated in several movements like the famous ‘umbrella movement ‘but was later arrested for the same. He was under arrest when he was convicted under the charges of subversion.
What is the national security law in Hong Kong ?
This law was passed in Hong Kong in 2020 to safeguard the country. The law was made in response to the protests in the country in 2019. The results after the imposition of the law varied. The number of arrests and protests increased in the country. The law was implemented due to the mention of the security law in the basic law article 18.
The basic law article was formed in July 1997 which was formed on the basis of ‘one country and two systems’. The basic law was formed to protect freedom of speech and assembly. The national security law majorly consisted of four crimes terrorism, collusion, secession and subversion . The 14 activists in this case was convicted of the crime subversion under this law.
