Nine Hong Kong democracy advocates and former lawmakers yesterday were sentenced to prison terms of up to 10 months for their roles in last year’s banned candlelight vigil commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre.
The nine are part of a group of 12 defendants who earlier this month pled guilty to participating in the vigil that was the only large-scale public commemoration on Chinese soil of the 1989 crackdown in Beijing on student-led protests.
Three others were given suspended sentences.
They were all charged with taking part in an unauthorized assembly, with seven of them facing an additional charge for inciting others to take part in the event.
Police last year banned the annual vigil for the first time in three decades, citing public health risks from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Critics have said that the ban is part of the crackdown on opposition in the territory following months of democracy demonstrations in 2019.
More than 10 democracy advocates turned up at the June 4 vigil, despite the ban and thousands followed suit. The crowds broke through barriers set up around the Victoria Park venue to light candles and sing songs, despite police warnings.
Police later arrested more than 20 who participated, including leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, the group that organizes the yearly vigil.
Some of those sentenced yesterday, such as former lawmaker Albert Ho (何俊仁) and Figo Chan (陳皓桓), former leader of the defunct Civil Human Rights Front, are in prison over other unauthorized assemblies.
Eight other democracy advocates who were charged over last year’s Tiananmen vigil — including Jimmy Lai (黎智英), founder of the defunct Apple Daily newspaper, as well as former lawmaker and Hong Kong Alliance chairman Lee Cheuk-yan (李卓人) — have pleaded not guilty and are to stand trial in November.
Democracy advocate Joshua Wong (黃之鋒) and three others had previously pleaded guilty for their roles in the event, and were sentenced to between four and 10 months in jail.
In June last year, Beijing imposed a National Security Law on Hong Kong that targets secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign collusion in the territory’s affairs. More than 100 people have been arrested under the legislation.
Beijing and Hong Kong officials have been criticized for rolling back freedoms promised to Hong Kong for 50 years when the former British colony was handed over to China in 1997.
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS