Organizers of Hong Kong’s annual Tiananmen vigil convicted in national security case

Open this photo in gallery:Police officers stand near the media area outside the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts ahead of the verdict in the national security trial of two pro-democracy Tiananmen activists, in Hong Kong on Friday.LEUNG MAN HEI/AFP/Getty ImagesThe organizers of an annual candlelit vigil in Hong Kong commemorating the June 4, 1989, Tiananmen Square massacre were convicted on national security charges Friday, in the latest blow to the Chinese territory’s dismantled pro-democracy movement.Activists Chow Hang-tung and Lee Cheuk-yan were found guilty of inciting subversion and face up to a decade in prison. A sentence will be handed down at a later date. The Tiananmen vigil, held every year from 1990 to 2019, was a symbol of Hong Kong’s relative freedoms and civil liberties compared to the Chinese mainland. It was organized by the Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, itself emblematic of a widespread belief in the early decades of Hong Kong’s handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997 that the former colony would influence autocratic China, rather than the other way around.Those hopes have been dashed in recent years, as Beijing first set limits on how much democracy it would tolerate in Hong Kong, and then cracked down heavily after mass protests in 2014 and 2019, which brought millions to the streets demanding greater freedoms.The 2019 Tiananmen vigil was among the largest in history, and the last held with the authorities’ permission. The following year’s memorial was banned on COVID-19 grounds, while subsequent events did not go ahead due to a national security law introduced in mid-2020.Open this photo in gallery:A woman gestures as she enters the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts ahead of the verdict in the national security trial of two pro-democracy Tiananmen activists.LEUNG MAN HEI/AFP/Getty ImagesThis year, June 4 passed in Hong Kong much as it does in mainland China, with a heavy police presence and scant public commemoration.The Alliance disbanded in September, 2021, in the wake of intense pressure from authorities, who that same month detained organizers Mr. Lee, Ms. Chow and Albert Ho, a former candidate for Hong Kong chief executive who pleaded guilty to the incitement charge in January. Lead prosecutor Lai Ka-yee said all three had conspired to achieve the “illegal goal” of ending one-party rule in China, a long-stated aim of the pro-democracy Alliance.“There is no lawful way to terminate the leadership of the Communist Party,” Mr. Lai said.Despite repeated promises at the time the national security law was imposed on Hong Kong that it would not be retroactive, Mr. Lai pointed to behaviour by the defendants prior to 2020, including organizing the annual Tiananmen vigil and criticizing Communist rule in Beijing, activities that had been permitted for decades, as proof of how the Alliance had “endangered national security” and incited others to “subvert state power.”Mr. Lee told the court that the call was not about ending the party’s leadership but about moving toward democracy, letting the people decide who leads them, and that the Communist Party should not enforce “dictatorship.”Ms. Chow, a barrister who defended herself, argued that “ending one-party rule” meant ending a state where power is unrestricted. “Justice lives in the hearts of the people,” she said in a statement Thursday. “There is no need to look up to this kind of top-down ruling, and one verdict doesn’t matter much.” While opposition activity has largely disappeared in Hong Kong today, the authorities are in the midst of yet another crackdown targeting remaining independent civil society groups, including pressuring the Hong Kong Journalists Association and arresting booksellers for allegedly distributing “subversive” materials. Speaking last month after five people linked to two bookstores were arrested, Hong Kong’s security secretary Chris Tang rejected calls to publish a list of banned books, and said the law was clear. “If you are a bookseller, you have the responsibility to make sure the books you sell won’t endanger national security,” he told reporters. “It’s equal to, for example, when you are selling food, you need to ensure the food won’t cause a stomach ache and is not either poison or illegal.”“We will not let criminals off the hook,” he said. With files from the Associated Press