Hong Kong has jailed a 66-year-old activist known affectionately as Grandma Wong (王婆婆) in relation to the pro-democracy protests that rocked the territory three years ago.
A magistrate on Wednesday jailed Alexandra Wong (王鳳瑤) for eight months over two counts of unlawful assembly during a protest on Aug. 11, 2019. Wong was a familiar presence at the protests, and was widely recognized for flying the British Union Jack.
Principal magistrate Ada Yim (嚴舜儀) found Wong to have participated in two illegal assemblies, and cited her use of flags and slogans to encourage others to do the same.
Photo: Reuters
From the dock, the bespectacled and gray-haired Wong struck a defiant note and criticized Hong Kong’s government as an “authoritarian regime.”
She also reiterated an earlier claim that she had been interrogated and detained by security agents in the Chinese mainland for 45 days and prevented from returning to Hong Kong for nearly 14 months. She said she was forced to give written and filmed confessions.
Wong is no stranger to the courts, and has continued to stage one-woman protests outside Hong Kong’s court buildings in support of other pro-democracy activists during their hearings, despite Hong Kong’s punitive National Security Law.
She has previously been convicted of a series of other protest-related charges, including a four-day sentence in January for refusing to show her ID card during another protest, and a one-month sentence for assault in July last year for pushing a court security guard.
In related news, a Catholic priest yesterday launched a three-day protest in sweltering heat outside a Hong Kong maximum security prison, demanding the release of activists and democratic politicians held under the National Security Law.
Milan-born missionary Franco Mella, a longtime rights campaigner in Hong Kong, vowed to refuse food as he stood on a dam wall overlooking the Shek Pik prison on an isolated stretch of Lantau Island.
The 74-year-old, who took part in the mass pro-democracy protests in 2019 that roiled the territory, told reporters Hong Kongers would be “more confident in the future” if authorities released the detained activists.
Mella pledged not to eat for the entire period of his action, a challenge made harder by temperatures of more than 30oC.
“The weather is so hot. So they are suffering inside. And the messages [are] we are with you, don’t lose hope. Let’s continue to fight for everybody’s freedom,” he said.
The government did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ request for comment.
About 200 people have been arrested under the National Security Law since China imposed it on the former British colony in June 2020 to quell the 2019 unrest.
Demonstrations have been small and rare since the law came into force, in part due to government COVID-19 restrictions on public gatherings.
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