Hong Kong hits Tiananmen vigil activists with yearslong jail sentences

HONG KONG – A Hong Kong court handed three Tiananmen vigil activists jail sentences of between five and seven years on Friday for national security crimes, following a trial that has drawn international condemnation. Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, Chow Hang-tung, 41, and Albert Ho, 74, have been behind bars since being charged in 2021, and their convictions — under a national security law Beijing imposed on Hong Kong — have been condemned by the United Nations, rights groups and foreign governments. A court ruled in August that the activists had breached the Chinese constitution by calling for an “end to one-party dictatorship.”