Nine Sentenced for Illegal Assembly

Albert Ho and Martin Lee before hearing their fate today

 

Another dark day, Black Friday, whatever you want to call it.

Nine pro-democracy activists, former lawmakers, esteemed lawyers and a newspaper founder were sentenced today for organizing and participating in an illegal assembly on August 18, 2019.

Hong Kong's "Father of democracy" Martin Lee Chu-ming, 83, was handed a suspended sentence of 11 months along with fellow lawyer and former Democratic Party chairman Albert Ho Chun-yan, 69. Sixty-seven-year-old Leung Yiu-chung also got a suspended sentence of eight months.

Jimmy Lai faces two more NSL charges

Media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, 73, was sentenced to 14 months in jail and was further indicted on two charges for violating the national security law, of conspiracy to commit subversion, and obstructing justice.

Lee Cheuk-yan, 64, a former lawmaker who also organizes the annual Tiananmen candlelight vigil, will also serve a dozen months in jail, 65-year-old "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung 18 months, 33 year-old Au Nok-hin 10 months, and 66-year-old Cyd Ho Sau-lan, eight months.

Another highly-regarded lawyer Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee, 73, also received a suspended sentence of 12 months, but not before giving an impassioned speech to the court, defending her right to demonstrate.

"When the people, in the last resort, had to give collective expression to their anguish and urge the government to respond, protected only by their expectation that the government will respect their rights, I must be prepared to stand with them, stand by them and stand up for them," she said.

District Judge Amanda Woodcock said the accused had consciously broken the law during the anti-government protests in 2019 which she described was "as relentless as it was violent and disturbing".

The ironic thing about the August 18, 2019 assembly was that it was very peaceful. It was also very wet that day.

Cyd Ho and Lee Cheuk-yan before sentencing

But the judge did not consider this.

"The procession posed a direct challenge to the police and therefore law and order... Taking into account the prevailing circumstances in Hong Kong at the time, a procession of that size posed an inherent latent risk to possible violence," Judge Woodcock said.

"A term of immediate imprisonment was the only appropriate sentencing option."

Previously sentences for illegal assembly were fines of a few thousand dollars or a few weeks in jail.  

But these jail sentences send a terrifying signal that even moderates are punished for advocating peaceful protests.

"It's excessive, entirely out of proportion. What have they done to deserve such severe punishments?" said Fernando Cheung Chiu-hung, a former lawmaker to the New York Times. "It was a peaceful demonstration for the public to display people's discontent. All these political leaders have done was walking with the people." 

1.7M protested in the rain August 18, 2019

Human rights advocates denounced the sentences as unlawful.

"These convictions are a violation of international aw, which states that participating in and organizing peaceful assembles does not require prior permission by the state," said Yamini Mishra, Amnesty International's director for the Asia-Pacific region. "All those sentenced today should be immediately released and their record expunged."

But the Hong Kong government will not listen to these comments; ever since the national security law was implemented last July, the ability to protest has been shut down completely, giving the public no outlet to voice their dissatisfaction with the government.

It has come to the point where people are voting with their feet -- to stay or go. 

The Times have reported 3,000 Hongkongers a week are applying for visas using their British National Overseas passport. So far 35,000 have applied for the five-year scheme.

The number of people who have applied within the first 10 weeks is more than one-tenth of the 300,000 the British government is expecting in five years, meaning it may have underestimated demand...

Seven Convicted in Illegal Assembly

Some 1.7 million people protested on August 18, 2019

Seven pro-democracy activists, former lawmakers, lawyers and a newspaper owner were convicted of organizing and taking part in an unauthorized anti-government protest on August 18, 2019.

They include Apple Daily tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, veteran opposition campaigner Martin Lee Chu-ming, and former lawmakers Lee Cheuk-yan, and Cyd Ho Sau-lan. 

After the march started, the rain poured down

I just reread my post from that day, where an estimated 1.7 million people came out. It suddenly started pouring with rain, and everyone had their umbrellas out but we were still wet from water dripping from other umbrellas. The heaving crowd inched its way from Tin Hau to Causeway Bay and then to Central.

It was a peaceful march, no tear gas, no destruction, just a lot of people walking in the rain.

And yet these seven people were arrested, charged and convicted.

Prosecutors said the seven accused turned an approved assembly into an illegal one on the pretext of crowd control, while the defense argued they were merely leading the rally participants out of the park to alleviate overcrowding.

Judge Amanda Woodcock found there was no need to disperse hundreds of thousands of people from Victoria Park in the form of a procession, as there was no evidence that exit routes were in accessible or problematic, or that the park was so overcrowded that a stampede or risk of serious injuries was imminent.

Martin Lee and Albert Ho at the courthouse

She said the seven inequivocally intended to stage the illegal event, as evidenced by them carrying a banner and shouting slogans as they walked out of the park.

"I am sure this public procession was not about dispersal of crowds. That was a description used to defy the law and circumvent the ban. This intention was vocalized repeatedly and publicly days before the public meeting. It was only a dispersal plan in name, and the truth is it was a planned unauthorized assembly," Woodcock wrote in her 89-page judgment.

As for those 100 police officers who prevented the crowd from leaving the park and then made them inch along the way, then suddenly disappeared, Woodcock agreed with the commanding officers testifying in court that far from neglecting their duties, police were being "prudent" as they hoped to minimize the risk of violence or confrontation that day.

The judge found the protest march caused serious traffic disruption -- but it was a Sunday and every weekend before that there were protests in the area, and she rejected the argument the seven had a reasonable excuse for their acts because the protest was peaceful.

Margaret Ng was also one of seven convicted

"It cannot be right that to arrest and prosecute is disproportionate in this case because no actual violence broke out. That would give the law no teeth and make a mockery of it," she wrote.

The seven will be sentenced on April 16 and could face up to five years in prison. 

Eighty-two-year-old Martin Lee, who usually has something to say after a court case, was uncharacteristically silent as he left the West Kowloon courthouse, while Cyd Ho of the Labour Party said she was "disappointed" by the verdict, saying the case reflected the erosion of freedom of speech and expression.

"The collapse of Hong Kong's political regime will [cause it to] become a hotbed for corruption," she said.

Samuel Chu, the managing director of the Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council said of the convictions: "This trial was also about the long history, legacy and contributions of the elder statesmen and women of the movement. It is about discrediting their lifetime contributions to Hong Kong, to the movement, to workers, to grassroots, to individuals and their professions."

This is the first time Martin Lee has been convicted and will be sent to jail. 

How does the man who helped draft the Basic Law, who was trying to find a peaceful path towards democracy in China get thrown in jail?

It is a terrible sign that even moderates are too much of a threat to Beijing and must be silenced. There is no other way. 

Lai also faces a national security law charge

The seven convicted:

Martin Lee Chu-ming

Jimmy Lai Chee-ying

Cyd Ho Sau-lan

Lee Cheuk-yan

Albert Ho Chun-yan

Margaret Ng Ngoi-yee

Leung Kwok-hung

(Au Nok-hin and Leung Yiu-chung pleaded guilty earlier)

Beijing Dangles an Olive Branch

How did Robert Chow score meetings with officials like Wang Guangya?

It's all relative isn't it.

Now that the Hong Kong pan-democrats seem completely tame next to the localists, the Chinese government has decided to grant the pan-dems mainland travel documents from now on.

But the pan-democrats aren't buying it. Leung Yiu-chung of the Neighbourhood and Worker's Service Centre says it is a two-pronged strategy by Beijing to break the ice with opposition lawmakers, while cracking down hard on independence advocacy.

Leung Yiu-chung isn't convinced by Beijing's olive branch

"If officials would like to talk about relaunching the city's political reform process, I would go anytime, even this afternoon, but there is no need for another sightseeing trip," To said.

What was also bizarre about the announcement was that it came not from Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, but from the pan-democrats' fiercest critic, Robert Chow Yung, who runs the pro-establishment group Silent Majority for Hong Kong.

He has managed to score meetings with Wang Guangya, director of the State Council's Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, Zhang Dejiang, chairman of the National People's Congress, and Chen Zuoer, chairman of the semi-official Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macau Studies.

The fact that Chow got these meetings -- one purportedly lasting as long as two hours -- shows that even Leung Chun-ying doesn't quite have the guanxi touch anymore.

Nevertheless, at least three pan-democrats who have been unable to renew their mainland travel documents for more than a decade -- Democrat James To Kun-sun, "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung from the League of Social Democrats, and Leung Yiu-chung -- have said they will not apply for permits.

Leung Kwok-hung isn't applying for a permit anytime soon

"I also found it very strange that Chow was informed before the local government. It seems Beijing has downgraded the local government," Leung Yiu-chung said.

When asked if he knew about the announcement from Beijing, Leung Chun-ying declined to confirm, only saying he had been "working hard to advocate that the central government promptly allow our pan-democrat friends [to visit the mainland]".

Hmmm... since when were the pan-democrats his "friends"?

Even Rita Fan Hsu Lai-tai, Hong Kong's sole representative on the National People's Congress Standing Committee didn't know about the latest development. She saw it as a gesture to the pan-democrats that "if you are not [advocating independence] there is no reason why there should be no communication [between us]".

Very interesting development, but also good on the pan-democrats for sticking to their guns. Democracy is worth much more than a travel permit to the mainland...