Hong Kong court locks up a generation of pro-democracy leaders

The mass sentencing Tuesday of 45 Hong Kong pro-democracy figures on subversion charges marks the government’s heaviest strike yet aimed at crushing prominent voices of dissent in the once-freewheeling Asian financial center.

The young Joshua Wong, who as a teenager led demonstrations to oppose China’s push to impose its curriculum on schools in Hong Kong, received a sentence of four years and eight months. “I love Hong Kong,” he shouted before leaving the dock.

Benny Tai, a legal scholar in his 60s who organized the 2014 Umbrella Movement to press for universal suffrage, was given the longest prison term – 10 years. Judges labeled Mr. Tai the “mastermind” of what they called an effort to bring down Hong Kong’s government.

The landmark trial of the Hong Kong 47, as the case is known, is the largest under the national security law that Beijing imposed in 2020 as part of a sweeping crackdown on Hong Kong’s 2019 pro-democracy movement. Two of the original 47 defendants were acquitted.

The defendants were charged with conspiring to subvert the city’s government after they organized an unofficial primary election in 2020, to select candidates to put forth in upcoming legislative elections. Hong Kongers supported the idea – more than 600,000 people took part in the informal, peaceful poll.

But the panel of three High Court judges ruled that the poll was part of a plot to “undermine, destroy, or overthrow” the Hong Kong government.

By handing down heavy prison terms on the 45 defendants – who include former elected politicians, union leaders, scholars, journalists, and student leaders – the national security court is effectively locking up a generation of Hong Kong’s political opposition, experts say.

“There is a general campaign, of which this trial is a part, to rid Hong Kong of the pandemocratic opposition,” says John Burns, emeritus professor of politics and public administration at the University of Hong Kong. “Authorities are sending a strong message to people ... that opposition is futile.”

A young district councilor

One of those sentenced on Tuesday – to nearly five years in prison – is Fergus Leung. Five years ago, Mr. Leung was a 22-year-old university student and an enthusiastic, newly elected Hong Kong district councilor – a first-time candidate who had just defeated a pro-Beijing incumbent in Hong Kong’s local elections.

Sporting a white button-down shirt and spectacles, Mr. Leung was rolling up his sleeves, eager to help his downtown Hong Kong constituents resolve problems ranging from missing rubbish bins to illegal parking and rent hikes. “I have a lot of work to do,” he said at the time.

Mr. Leung’s victory was part of a landslide win for pro-democracy candidates in Hong Kong’s November 2019 district council elections, as a record voter turnout ousted pro-Beijing candidates across Hong Kong and gave pro-democracy and independent candidates control over 17 of 18 district councils.

That election, coming amid months of massive pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, underscored a popular desire among voters for expanded political freedoms.

Beginning in the spring of 2019, as many as a million of Hong Kong’s 7 million residents had turned out to support self-determination and oppose an unpopular extradition law – seen as part of an effort by Beijing to tighten its grip on the former British colony, which reverted to China in 1997.

Under the 1984 Sino-British Joint Declaration, China had agreed that after its 1997 takeover it would uphold Hong Kong’s high degree of autonomy and its rights and freedoms, including freedom of speech and of the press.

For its part, Beijing called the protesters “rioters” and said they represented a minority of Hong Kong people supported by “black hands” from overseas. The pro-democracy candidates’ election victory undermined this narrative.

Alarmed by the election and concerned about unrest spreading into mainland China, Beijing launched a major crackdown. In mid-2020, it imposed a draconian new national security law that authorities are now using to eliminate any political dissent – and to arrest and imprison scores of people like Mr. Leung.

Hong Kong authorities have also forced independent media to shut down, intimidated civil society organizations, and banned once-frequent demonstrations over a variety of issues in the city.

In 2021, Beijing began a sweeping overhaul of Hong Kong’s electoral systems, restricting the number of popularly elected positions and imposing a vetting system to ensure that only “patriots” can run for office. Since then, voter turnout in Hong Kong elections has plummeted.

With “patriots” firmly in charge, Hong Kong passed its own tough security law in March, increasing the maximum penalty for sedition and broadening the definition of state secrets.

Beijing dashes the hopes of a generation

Tuesday’s sentencing drew strong condemnation from foreign governments, including the United States and Australia. “The defendants were aggressively prosecuted and jailed for peacefully participating in normal political activity protected under Hong Kong’s Basic Law,” said a spokesperson for the U.S. Consulate in Hong Kong.

Beijing rejected the criticism as “unwarranted.” “No one should be allowed to use ‘democracy’ as a pretext to engage in unlawful activities and escape justice,” said Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian.

Hong Kong democracy activists overseas say Tuesday’s sentencing is a blow not only to the city’s pro-democracy movement, but also to the hopes of the many thousands of young people who joined the 2019 protests.

“These pro-democracy leaders – now mostly detained and facing lengthy prison sentences – embodied the hopes and dreams of Hong Kongers yearning for political freedom,” says Carmen Lau, senior international advocacy associate for the Hong Kong Democracy Council in Washington. “They are not just political figures; they are our friends, colleagues, and inspiration.”

Indeed, disheartened young people in Hong Kong may seek to leave the city, says Dr. Burns. “There is no room for reconciliation,” he says. “It appears they have written off an entire generation in Hong Kong.”

While seeking to eliminate dissent and activism, Hong Kong authorities encourage young people to focus instead on material things – “a job, home mortgage, and the freedom to eat sushi or Korean food,” he says.

Yet this, he predicts, is unlikely to succeed. “It’s impossible to tell people in Hong Kong what to think.”