The China Mail - Hong Kong court to hear appeals by jailed democracy campaigners

USD -
AED 3.673033
AFN 69.000226
ALL 83.550489
AMD 383.95992
ANG 1.789699
AOA 917.00012
ARS 1261.532599
AUD 1.53299
AWG 1.8
AZN 1.69567
BAM 1.683872
BBD 2.019561
BDT 121.326916
BGN 1.67799
BHD 0.377018
BIF 2926
BMD 1
BND 1.28481
BOB 6.911871
BRL 5.5508
BSD 1.000181
BTN 85.934076
BWP 13.509546
BYN 3.273296
BYR 19600
BZD 2.009161
CAD 1.369935
CDF 2886.000234
CHF 0.800596
CLF 0.025206
CLP 967.280338
CNY 7.173015
CNH 7.17917
COP 4016
CRC 504.694381
CUC 1
CUP 26.5
CVE 95.550643
CZK 21.182011
DJF 177.719786
DKK 6.413902
DOP 60.285003
DZD 130.179919
EGP 49.427503
ERN 15
ETB 136.55029
EUR 0.85939
FJD 2.253301
FKP 0.746571
GBP 0.745465
GEL 2.709953
GGP 0.746571
GHS 10.3949
GIP 0.746571
GMD 71.500984
GNF 8655.99985
GTQ 7.674625
GYD 209.258877
HKD 7.84996
HNL 26.34994
HRK 6.472981
HTG 131.331307
HUF 343.213968
IDR 16306.1
ILS 3.36025
IMP 0.746571
INR 85.8791
IQD 1310
IRR 42125.000268
ISK 122.089737
JEP 0.746571
JMD 159.94111
JOD 0.708947
JPY 147.665502
KES 129.503518
KGS 87.4498
KHR 4019.999937
KMF 424.625029
KPW 900.051518
KRW 1386.3802
KWD 0.30553
KYD 0.833509
KZT 527.501195
LAK 21565.000164
LBP 89550.000266
LKR 301.621193
LRD 200.999935
LSL 17.929677
LTL 2.95274
LVL 0.60489
LYD 5.409742
MAD 9.061503
MDL 16.983577
MGA 4430.000258
MKD 53.000887
MMK 2099.084933
MNT 3586.706921
MOP 8.087526
MRU 39.719459
MUR 45.509856
MVR 15.401635
MWK 1736.503198
MXN 18.729098
MYR 4.245031
MZN 63.960025
NAD 17.930137
NGN 1529.930402
NIO 36.750414
NOK 10.251395
NPR 137.494942
NZD 1.682864
OMR 0.3845
PAB 1.000189
PEN 3.554011
PGK 4.13325
PHP 56.993498
PKR 284.649749
PLN 3.657186
PYG 7745.223807
QAR 3.640597
RON 4.357501
RSD 100.651022
RUB 78.251691
RWF 1436.5
SAR 3.750864
SBD 8.31956
SCR 14.550293
SDG 600.502618
SEK 9.72783
SGD 1.282715
SHP 0.785843
SLE 22.449708
SLL 20969.503947
SOS 571.496327
SRD 37.123499
STD 20697.981008
SVC 8.75169
SYP 13001.881348
SZL 17.930606
THB 32.443498
TJS 9.577091
TMT 3.51
TND 2.9025
TOP 2.342097
TRY 40.24877
TTD 6.786943
TWD 29.345994
TZS 2614.999782
UAH 41.884759
UGX 3584.189274
UYU 40.456655
UZS 12794.999754
VES 116.825031
VND 26160
VUV 119.423344
WST 2.7533
XAF 564.752324
XAG 0.026389
XAU 0.000298
XCD 2.70255
XDR 0.702806
XOF 562.000129
XPF 102.649795
YER 241.349791
ZAR 17.829015
ZMK 9001.199508
ZMW 22.805386
ZWL 321.999592
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Hong Kong court to hear appeals by jailed democracy campaigners
Hong Kong court to hear appeals by jailed democracy campaigners / Photo: © AFP

Hong Kong court to hear appeals by jailed democracy campaigners

A Hong Kong court will hear appeals starting on Monday from 13 democracy campaigners who were jailed for subversion last year during the city's largest national security trial.

Text size:

They were among 45 opposition figures, including some of Hong Kong's best-known democracy activists, who were sentenced in November over a 2020 informal primary election that authorities deemed a subversive plot.

Critics including the United States, Britain and the European Union said the case showed how a Beijing-imposed national security law has eroded freedoms and quashed peaceful opposition in Hong Kong.

Ex-lawmakers "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung, Lam Cheuk-ting, Helena Wong and Raymond Chan are among those contesting their convictions and sentences in hearings that are scheduled to last 10 days.

Owen Chow, a 28-year-old activist who was sentenced to seven years and nine months in jail -- the harshest penalty among the 13 -- has also lodged an appeal.

Some of the appellants have already spent more than four years behind bars.

Amnesty International's China director Sarah Brooks said the appeal will be a "pivotal test" for free expression in the Chinese finance hub.

"Only by overturning these convictions can Hong Kong's courts begin to restore the city's global standing as a place where rights are respected and where people are allowed to peacefully express their views without fear of arrest," Brooks said.

- Morning raids -

Prosecutors will concurrently challenge on Monday the lower court's acquittal of lawyer Lawrence Lau, one of two people found not guilty from an original group of 47 accused.

Activist Tam Tak-chi, who pleaded guilty in the subversion case, had also indicated he would appeal against his sentence but withdrew.

Beijing has remoulded Hong Kong in its authoritarian image after imposing a sweeping national security law in 2020 following months of huge, and sometimes violent, pro-democracy demonstrations.

Authorities arrested figures from a broad cross-section of the city's opposition in morning raids in 2021, a group later dubbed the "Hong Kong 47".

The group, aged between 27 and 69, included democratically elected lawmakers and district councillors, as well as unionists, academics and others with political stances ranging from modest reformists to radical localists.

They were accused of organising or taking part in an unofficial primary election, which aimed to improve the chances of pro-democracy parties of winning a majority in the legislature.

The activists had hoped to force the government to accede to demands such as universal suffrage by threatening to indiscriminately veto the budget.

Three senior judges handpicked by the government to try security cases said the plan would have caused a "constitutional crisis".

Beijing and Hong Kong officials have defended the national security law as being necessary to restore order following the 2019 protests.

Opposition party the League of Social Democrats -- co-founded by Leung -- announced its disbandment last month, citing "immense political pressure".

Eight of the jailed campaigners, including journalist and lawmaker Claudia Mo and LGBTQ activist Jimmy Sham, have been released in recent weeks after completing their sentences.

S.Davis--ThChM