9 Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Activists Sentenced For 2019 Protests

Nine veteran activists and lawmakers in Hong Kong have been sentenced to prison terms of up to 18 months because of their participation in anti-government protests nearly two years ago.

Media mogul Jimmy Lai received one year in prison, while prominent lawyers Margaret Ng and Martin Lee received suspended sentences of 12 and 11 months respectively, meaning if they are not convicted of another crime in the next two years, they will not have to spend time behind bars. The heaviest sentence of 18 months was meted out to Lee Cheuk-yan, an activist and former lawmaker.

The nine are the most prominent figures in Hong Kong to be sent to prison thus far as Beijing mounts several waves of arrests in the aftermath of widespread protests against its control of the region. They were convicted earlier this month of participating in two unauthorized but peaceful protests in August 2019.

Those protests were part of a larger political movement that began peacefully and attracted record numbers of marchers from all walks of life in Hong Kong. But demonstrations occasionally turned violent, after Beijing and Hong Kong's chief executive, Carrie Lam, refused to budge on more far-reaching demands for democratic reform, such as the ability to directly vote for Hong Kong's next leader.