.

Who Was Sentenced, and For How Long

Lee Cheuk-yan, a 69-year-old former lawmaker, received a seven-year prison term. Chow Hang-tung, a 41-year-old human rights lawyer who represented herself in court, was handed seven years and three months — the harshest sentence of the three. Both had pleaded not guilty.

Albert Ho, 74, received five years and two months after entering a guilty plea, a legal strategy that has become increasingly common among defendants facing national security charges in Hong Kong. All three had already spent roughly five years in pre-trial detention since their arrest in September 2021.

The activists led the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, the group that for three decades organized the only large-scale public commemoration of the Tiananmen crackdown anywhere on Chinese soil.

.

Why the Court Called It "Subversion"

Three government-vetted judges — a feature of national security trials in Hong Kong, which forgo juries — ruled that the alliance's long-standing slogan calling to "end one-party dictatorship" amounted to an intent to overthrow Communist Party rule. The court acknowledged the group never advocated violence or set out a concrete plan of action, but argued that the broader political climate made their calls a serious threat to state security.

Hong Kong's government defended the outcome. Chief Executive John Lee said the law does not permit anyone to use "human rights, democracy and freedom as a pretext" to harm the country. Beijing's Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office described the sentences as a defense of constitutional order.

.

International Backlash

The reaction abroad was swift and largely critical. The United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom all condemned the verdict as further evidence of Hong Kong's shrinking freedoms. A U.S. State Department official said the vigils had only ever sought to honor the victims of the 1989 crackdown, while the EU's foreign affairs spokesperson said the ruling damages confidence in the rule of law and Hong Kong's international reputation.

Legal scholars have echoed that criticism. A law lecturer at Oxford Brookes University noted that even the mere possibility that remembering past events could stir public sentiment against the state was enough for the court to treat the case as serious — a standard she said criminalizes peaceful advocacy outright.

.

A City Transformed

Before it was banned in 2020, officially on pandemic-related grounds, the Tiananmen vigil at Victoria Park drew tens of thousands — at times reportedly hundreds of thousands — of people every June 4. It stood as one of the clearest symbols separating Hong Kong's civil liberties from the tightly censored mainland, where public discussion of the 1989 massacre remains forbidden.

That distinction has eroded rapidly. Since the 2019 pro-democracy protests, Hong Kong authorities have narrowed electoral choice, prosecuted independent journalists, and dissolved dozens of civil society organizations, including the alliance itself. In February, prominent pro-democracy publisher Jimmy Lai was sentenced to 20 years in prison in a separate national security case — a sentence widely seen as part of the same pattern of silencing dissent.

.

What Comes Next

Lee and Chow have said they intend to appeal their convictions. Supporters, including Roman Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen, gathered outside the West Kowloon courthouse ahead of the sentencing. Chow's mother told reporters she was, in a bitter twist, almost grateful to prosecutors — she said the trial had put the truth of 1989 and its aftermath permanently into the court record.

For many former vigil attendees, the verdict felt personal. "I took part in the alliance's vigils for decades — this ruling amounts to an accusation against me too," one longtime participant said outside the court.

.

Sources

1. Associated Press – "Hong Kong court sentences 3 Tiananmen vigil organizers to prison in national security case" – https://apnews.com/article/hong-kong-tiananmen-vigil-organizers-1e91bf6d80c11ae3802481e0ac6b324a
2. CNN – "Hong Kong's Tiananmen vigil organizers receive lengthy prison terms" – https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/10/china/hong-kong-tiananmen-organizers-prison-hnk-intl
3. NBC News – "Organizers of Hong Kong's Tiananmen vigils sentenced to up to 7 years and 3 months in national security case" – https://www.nbcnews.com/world/asia/organizers-hong-kong-tiananmen-vigils-sentenced-rcna596550
4. The Japan Times (Reuters) – "Hong Kong hits Tiananmen vigil activists with yearslong jail sentences" – https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/09/11/asia-pacific/hong-kong-tiananmen-activists-sentence/

.