Jailed Hong Kong media mogul Jimmy Lai (黎智英) was among three democracy campaigners convicted yesterday for taking part in a banned Tiananmen vigil as the prosecution of multiple people came to a conclusion.
Lai, the 74-year-old owner of the Apple Daily newspaper, which is now shuttered in Hong Kong, was found guilty of unlawful assembly charges alongside former journalist Gwyneth Ho (何桂藍) and human rights lawyer Chow Hang-tung (鄒幸彤).
Authorities had charged more than two dozen politicians and rights advocates over a vigil last year that commemorated the victims of Beijing’s Tiananmen Square Massacre in 1989. Police had banned such activities. The trio were the only ones to contest their charges in court, meaning they were the last to receive their verdict.
Photo: AFP
They argued that they went to light candles in a personal capacity and had not “incited” others to join an outlawed rally.
At one point, Chow, a trained barrister who represented herself in court, likened her actions to “tank man” — the figure who stood in front of a Chinese tank during the Tiananmen crackdown and became an icon.
However, District Court Judge Amanda Woodcock dismissed those arguments as “frankly nonsensical” and convicted them of charges including inciting and taking part in an unauthorized assembly.
“The reality was, any intention to come out and participate in the candlelight vigil in Victoria Park that night was an act of defiance and protest against the police,” Woodcock said.
Amnesty International described the verdicts as the latest “attack on the rights to freedom of expression and assembly” in Hong Kong and said authorities had criminalized a “peaceful, socially distanced vigil.”
The convictions come as authorities crack down on dissent in Hong Kong and reconfigure the once outspoken finance hub in mainland China’s authoritarian image after huge democracy protests two years ago.
In practical terms, the latest verdicts make minimal difference to those convicted.
Lai, Chow and Ho are among dozens of people already behind bars facing separate prosecutions under a National Security Law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong last year.
However, their prosecution illustrates how much the gap has narrowed between Hong Kong and the mainland, where authorities have long sought to scrub memories and official records of Tiananmen.
For three decades, Hong Kong’s annual June 4 candlelight vigil would attract tens of thousands of people, which — with its slogans for democracy and ending one-party rule in China — became a symbol for the political freedoms enjoyed in the territory.
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