Seven of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy advocates yesterday had part of their convictions quashed over their roles in one of the biggest pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Jimmy Lai (黎智英), founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper; Martin Lee (李柱銘), the founding chairman of the Democratic Party; and five former pro-democracy lawmakers, including barrister Margaret Ng (吳靄儀), had been found guilty of organizing and participating an unauthorized assembly.
Lai, Lee Cheuk-yan (李卓人), Leung Kwok-hung (梁國雄) and Cyd Ho (何秀蘭) were jailed for between eight and 18 months. Martin Lee, an octogenarian nicknamed the territory’s “Father of Democracy,” Ng and Albert Ho (何俊仁) were given suspended jail sentences.
Photo: AP
Their convictions two years ago and their sentences were widely seen as another blow to the territory’s flagging democracy movement under an unprecedented crackdown by Beijing and Hong Kong authorities.
Judge Andrew Macrae said he and other judges of the Court of Appeal unanimously quashed their convictions over the charge of organizing an unauthorized assembly, but their convictions over taking part in an unauthorized assembly were upheld.
Hence, the four democracy advocates who served their jail terms in prison have had part of their sentences in the case quashed, he said.
Macrae and his colleagues said in a written judgement that an organizer must take some responsibility for or do something active to plan and arrange an action.
“An inference that because they were at the front of the procession, they must have organized it ... is not a realistic or suitable substitute for evidence that they were involved in its organization,” the judgement said.
All appellants have served out their sentences for the case, but Lai, Leung, Ho and Lee Cheuk-yan remain in custody as they were also charged under a National Security Law imposed by Beijing in 2020 following the massive protests.
Ng, Martin Lee, Lee Cheuk-yan and Ho were in the courtroom to hear the judges’ decision. Ho and Lee Cheuk-yan appeared tanned and spirited.
The charges involved a rally in August 2019 that drew an estimated 1.7 million people onto Hong Kong’s streets to call for greater police accountability and democracy.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
A Chinese ship ran aground in stormy weather in shallow waters off a Philippines-controlled island in the disputed South China Sea, prompting Filipino forces to go on alert, Philippine military officials said yesterday. When Philippine forces assessed that the Chinese fishing vessel appeared to have run aground in the shallows east of Thitu Island (Jhongye Island, 中業島) on Saturday due to bad weather, Philippine military and coast guard personnel deployed to provide help, but later saw that the ship had been extricated, Philippine navy regional spokesperson Ellaine Rose Collado said. No other details were immediately available, including if there were injuries among
RSS