Hong Kong tycoon, two others convicted over Tiananmen vigil

Hong Kong tycoon and distinguished pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai and two others had been convicted Thursday for his or her roles in final yr’s banned Tiananmen candlelight vigil, amid a crackdown on dissent within the metropolis and Beijing’s tightening political management.
Lai, along with Chow Hang-tung, a vice chairperson of the now-defunct vigil organiser the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, and activist and former reporter Gwyneth Ho had been convicted for both participating in or inciting others to hitch the candlelight vigil in 2020.
They are amongst 24 activists who had been charged over their roles within the unauthorised meeting in Victoria Park on June 4 final yr, throughout which 1000’s of individuals gathered to mild candles and sing songs within the park regardless of police warnings that they could be breaking the legislation.
The Hong Kong Alliance beforehand organised a candlelight vigil within the metropolis’s Victoria Park on June 4 annually to mark the bloody crackdown on protesters campaigning for extra democracy in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989.
Last yr, authorities banned the protest for the primary time in three a long time, citing social distancing restrictions and public well being dangers as a result of coronavirus. The protest was additionally banned this yr.
File picture of pro-democracy activists Lee Cheuk-yan, Chow Hang Tung, and Cheung Man-kwong attend a gathering to mourn for these killed within the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown at Victoria Park, in Hong Kong. (AP)
Prior to the ban, large crowds attended the annual candlelight vigil and it was the one large-scale public commemoration on Chinese soil of the 1989 crackdown in Beijing.
Lai was discovered responsible of inciting others to participate, whereas Ho was convicted for knowingly taking part within the meeting. Chow, a barrister, was convicted for each inciting and taking part within the vigil.
The trio had beforehand pleaded not responsible to the costs. Court will resume on Monday, after they can enter mitigation pleas earlier than sentences are handed down.
“The Hong Kong government has once again flouted international law by convicting activists simply for their involvement in a peaceful, socially distanced vigil for those killed by Chinese troops on 4 June 1989,” stated rights group Amnesty International’s deputy secretary normal Kyle Ward in an announcement.
“These convictions merely underline the pattern of the Hong Kong authorities’ extreme efforts to exploit the law to press multiple trumped-up charges against prominent activists,” he stated.
Ward added that prosecuting individuals who mourn and bear in mind the victims of the Tiananmen crackdown is an “egregious attack on the rights to freedom of expression and assembly.”
Most of the activists who had been charged over the banned vigil had beforehand pleaded responsible, together with outspoken activist Joshua Wong, who was given 10 months in jail for his participation within the vigil. He was already in jail serving time after beforehand being discovered responsible of different fees associated to his activism.