Hong Kong democracy leaders given jail terms amid crackdown
Associated PressHONG KONG — A Hong Kong court on Friday sentenced five leading pro-democracy advocates, including media tycoon Jimmy Lai, to up to 18 months in prison for organizing and participating in a massive march during 2019 anti-government protests that triggered an overwhelming crackdown from Beijing. Lee Cheuk-yan, a pro-democracy activist and former lawmaker who helped organize annual candlelight vigils in Hong Kong on the anniversary of the bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989, was sentenced to a total of 14 months in prison for his participation in the the two August 2019 marches. Hong Kong’s last British governor, Chris Patten, said that the Chinese Communist Party’s “comprehensive assault” on freedoms of Hong Kong and its rule of law remains relentless. “Having arrested the majority of Hong Kong’s most prominent dissidents using the repressive national security law, the authorities are now mopping up remaining peaceful critics under the pretext of bogus charges related to the 2019 protests,” Mishra said.