Who are the pro-democracy activists facing jail?

Some of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy activists, from a 68-year-old former opposition lawmaker to a 27-year-old student activist, are awaiting sentencing later Thursday on subversion charges.

They were among the 47 protesters and activists, better known as the “Hong Kong 47.” person charged three years ago This is considered China’s largest crackdown under the National Security Law.

Officials accused the 47 people – eight women and 39 men – of trying to “overthrow” the government by holding unofficial primaries to select opposition candidates for local elections.

The primary election was held in July 2020, despite the advice of Hong Kong officials and warnings of possible violations of the national security law that came into effect days earlier.

Beijing defends the law, enacted in the wake of massive pro-democracy protests, as necessary to maintain stability, but critics say it strips Hong Kong of valuable autonomy and freedoms.

Some are celebrities, such as opposition MPs Claudia Mo, Helena Wong, Kwok ka-ki, and Joshua Wong, the poster child for the pro-democracy protests that rocked Hong Kong in 2014. ) and Benny Tai.

But people like Stephen Chow, Liu Zheng and Anita Yuen represent a new generation of vocal activists. Mr Lau and Mr Chow were among hundreds of people who stormed Hong Kong’s Legislative Council (Legislative Council) and spray-painted the city’s emblem, becoming a key moment in the 2019 protests.

There are also people who are not involved in politics but were inspired by the 2019 protests, such as social workers like Hendrick Lui, entrepreneurs like Mike Lam, and former nurse Winnie Yu.

Sixteen of the 47 people have pleaded not guilty and could be sentenced to life in prison if convicted on Thursday, although sentencing is expected later.

The remaining 31 people have pleaded guilty. Four of them testified for the prosecution, including former legislators Au No-Hsuan and Zhao Junjie. While this usually results in a reduced sentence, it is unclear whether it would apply under the National Security Law.

Dana Young, Amnesty International’s deputy regional director, said in a report: “They are forced to make the impossible decision between admitting to a non-existent crime and potentially reducing their sentences, or fighting against unjust national security A losing battle under the law.

Other prominent figures such as Nathan Law and former legislator Hui Siu-fung also participated in the primaries but fled Hong Kong.

Therefore, when the 47 people were arrested in early 2021, most of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy activists were already imprisoned or in exile. Since then, most defendants have been jailed and pretrial detention under national security laws has become the norm.

China calls him a “stubborn troublemaker” for advocating Hong Kong independence and describing Communist Party rule as a “dictatorship.”

Academic and law professor Benny Tai first attracted attention when he published a column in a newspaper proposing an Occupy sit-in to demand greater democracy.

This eventually became the pro-democracy Occupy Central movement that he co-founded with two others. This is a historic civil disobedience movement calling for fair and free elections in Hong Kong.

The movement died down, but five years later, in 2019, Mr Tai was jailed for his role in the protests.

A year later, after the imposition of the national security law, he was fired from the prestigious University of Hong Kong (HKU) due to his criminal conviction.

Mr Tai accused universities of bowing to Chinese pressure and called it “the end of academic freedom” in Hong Kong.

The 60-year-old later posted on Facebook: “It breaks my heart to watch my beloved university die.”

By then, he was already facing charges of subversion from the National Security Council for organizing what officials in Hong Kong and Beijing called “illegal” primaries.

Joshua Wong is arguably Hong Kong’s most famous pro-democracy activist, his path to activism began when he was 14 years old.

By 2014, he had become the face of the Umbrella Movement, the massive student protests symbolized by umbrellas that arose alongside the Occupy Central sit-ins.

He was only 20 years old when his activism began Send him to jail first. He has been jailed multiple times, including once in 2019, the day after hundreds of thousands marched against a controversial extradition bill that would have allowed Hong Kongers to be sent to mainland China to face trial. Out of jail.

Protests against the bill have rocked Hong Kong for months. Mr Wong was among thousands of people who besieged the Wan Chai District Police Headquarters in June that year, throwing eggs at the building and spraying graffiti on the walls.

Prosecutors said Mr Huang led the protest, pointing to a video in which he called on the crowd to “completely surround police headquarters”. regarded as a spontaneous, “leaderless” movement.

He was imprisoned – and placed in solitary confinement – for his role in it.

But he remained defiant after pleading guilty: “Perhaps the authorities want me to spend one term in prison for another. But I believe that neither prison, nor electoral bans, nor any other arbitrary power will stop our activism.

He was still serving his sentence when he was charged with subversion under the national security law.

Former opposition legislator Leung Kwok-hung, known as “Long Hair” because of his hairstyle, once described himself as a “Marxist revolutionary.”

The 68-year-old is known for his political theatrics – one of his signature moves is throwing bananas in protest. When he was re-sworn in as a member of the Legislative Council in 2016, he released balloons with political banners and held a yellow umbrella, declaring that “the Umbrella Movement will never end.”

This resulted in him being disqualified from the council. He was arrested and jailed multiple times for participating in protests in 2019.

After the national security law was implemented in 2020, he married his long-term partner Vanessa Chan, also known as Chen Baoying, a well-known activist. They were one of the founding members of the Social Democratic Alliance.

They said they decided to get married because they would have greater legal rights, such as prison visitation rights, if one of them went to jail.

Forty days after the wedding, Mr. Liang was accused of subverting the primary.

Claudia Mo is a well-known opposition legislator, affectionately called “Aunt Mo” in Cantonese.

She was a reporter for AFP and reported on the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

The 67-year-old helped found the opposition Civic Party in 2006 and by 2012 won a seat in the Legislative Council – having given up her British citizenship to hold public office.

She is one of 15 MPs A large number of resignations from the Legislative Council In November 2020, four Democratic congressmen were ousted.

“We have to do this,” she said at the time.. “We need to protest against what may be Beijing’s eventual crackdown on Hong Kong — to silence the last vestiges of dissent in the city.”

In the early morning of January 6, 2021, the police “ran into the living room” and arrested her. British “Financial Times” reportciting an unnamed source, described the attack as “pure atrocity.”

She was in jail the entire time. When her husband, the British journalist Philip Bowling, became critically ill, Ms Mok was not allowed to visit him from prison.

Sam is a long-time political and LGBTQI activist who also leads one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF).

The group disbanded in 2021, saying it could no longer operate amid the “unprecedented” challenges posed by China’s repression.

Mr. Shum was violently attacked multiple times in 2019. On one occasion, he was left bleeding on the street and suffered a head injury. CHRF accused government supporters of this and other attacks on pro-democracy activists at the time, but this was never confirmed.

The 37-year-old married his partner in New York in 2013 and campaigned for Hong Kong to recognize overseas same-sex marriages. In 2023, Hong Kong’s Supreme Court granted him a partial victory when he ordered the government to establish a framework for recognizing same-sex partnerships.

At that time, Mr. Sum was imprisoned for participating in the Hong Kong primary election.

Bail has been repeatedly denied, with the judge describing him as a “determined young man” who may continue to commit “acts endangering national security” if released.

Thirty-three-year-old Gwyneth Ho worked for a number of news outlets, including BBC Chinese, state broadcaster Radio Hong Kong and Stand News, before turning to politics.

She rose to fame after accidentally live-streaming herself being beaten by a mob during a 2019 protest. The attack left her hospitalized.

She ran in a 2020 primary that was deemed illegal by Hong Kong officials and won a high vote in her constituency. Less than a year later, she was arrested.

She said during the trial it was “inevitable” 12 Democratic candidatesincluding her, were disqualified from participating in legislative elections.

“I believe most Hong Kong people know deep down that fighting for democracy under the Chinese Communist regime has always been a fantasy,” she said.

She was quickly stopped by High Court Judge Alex Lee, who told her to “calm down”.

Picture from Hong Kong InMedia