Three veteran Hong Kong pro-democracy activists have been jailed for up to seven years after organising vigils to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, in a case widely seen as another sign of shrinking political freedoms in the city. Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung were convicted last month under Hong Kong's national security law of inciting subversion of state power, while Albert Ho had already pleaded guilty. The UN human rights chief's office has called for the sentences to be quashed, and human rights groups have condemned the ruling as unjust.

Lee, 69, was sentenced to seven years, Chow, 41, to seven years and three months, and Ho, 74, who pleaded guilty, to five years; all had faced up to ten years following conviction. The three led the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance, founded in 1989, which for decades organised vigils marking the crackdown, some drawing crowds the group said exceeded 100,000. Those gatherings were banned in 2020 citing Covid-19 rules and never resumed, the same year the national security law took effect; the court also fined the Alliance HK$1.5m (£142,000). Family members expressed grief and defiance outside court, with Lee reportedly planning to appeal, while Amnesty International called the sentencing "a triple tragedy" for the activists, Tiananmen victims and Hongkongers denied open discussion of the event.