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Hong Kong Activists Convicted of Inciting Subversion Over Tiananmen Vigils

morning · · thread: Hong Kong Activists Convicted of Inciting Subversion Over Tiananmen Vigils

11 sources across 8 countries · 1 of them is linked to a state

Who reported this

  • Hong Kong Free Press Hong Kong · Centre-left · Non-profit, reader-funded
  • South China Morning Post Hong Kong · Centre-right · Alibaba Group
  • The Guardian United Kingdom · Centre-left · Scott Trust Limited
  • BBC News United Kingdom · Centre · Public · Licence fee, royal charter
  • CNN United States · Centre-left · Warner Bros. Discovery
  • Bloomberg United States · Centre · Bloomberg L.P. (Michael Bloomberg)
  • Infobae Argentina · Centre-right · Daniel Hadad
  • Le Monde France · Centre-left · Fonds pour l'independance de la presse
  • Deutsche Welle Germany · Centre · Public · German federal public-law corporation
  • Tempo English Indonesia · Centre-left · PT Tempo Inti Media
  • Al Jazeera Qatar · Centre-left · State-affiliated · Qatari government funded

What the colours mean

  • Left
  • Centre-left
  • Centre
  • Centre-right
  • Right
  • A hatched block means the outlet is affiliated with, or controlled by, a state.

Political lean describes where an outlet sits within the politics of its own country. It is never a position on a single global scale.

Political lean is comparable inside one country and not across them, which is why the bar groups by country first. Publicly funded broadcasters are not marked as state-linked.

The owner of each outlet is listed as a matter of record, not as a judgement about the outlet.

A Hong Kong court has convicted two pro-democracy activists, Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, and Chow Hang-tung, 41, of inciting subversion under a national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020. The pair were former leaders of the now-defunct Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, which organized annual candlelight vigils to commemorate the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown. The judges ruled that the defendants incited others to participate in acts to subvert state power by advocating for an end to one-party rule in China. Lee and Chow face a maximum prison term of 10 years, with sentencing scheduled for a later date. A third defendant, former lawmaker Albert Ho, 74, pleaded guilty to the charges in January.

Prosecutors argued that the activists endangered national security in the name of human rights and fostered public hatred toward the central government. The defense contended that the Alliance was exercising its freedom of expression and that the right to criticize state organs is protected. Chow, a barrister who represented herself, stated that the law itself was on trial. During the proceedings, Chow described being subjected to severe restraints by correctional services, including handcuffs and chains at the waist and ankles.

Outlets with a center-left lean framed the convictions as a sign of the erosion of freedom of expression and a reflection of the Chinese government's fear of its own history. Outlets with a center lean focused on the legal application of the controversial national security law and the historical context of the vigils. Outlets with a center-right lean emphasized the court's finding that the push to end one-party rule violated the Chinese constitution and the government's stated need to maintain stability and order following the 2019 protests.

How each side framed it

Centre-left
Framed the verdict as a chilling example of the erosion of civil liberties and the silencing of peaceful dissent.
Centre
Presented the event as a legal test of the national security law and provided balanced historical context.
Centre-right
Highlighted the violation of the Chinese constitution and the necessity of the law for maintaining regional stability.

Sources

100% of the statements in this article were traced back to the source articles listed above.