Snuffing out the flame of freedom in Hong Kong

WHETHER A CRIME was even committed is debatable. Nevertheless, on November 19th judges in Hong Kong’s biggest-ever national-security trial sentenced 45 activists to between four and ten years in prison. Those jailed are among 47 pro-democracy figures, known as the “Hong Kong 47”, who were rounded up in 2021 for having organised a primary to choose candidates for the local legislature. Fourteen of the defendants were found guilty in May of conspiracy to commit subversion. Thirty-one had already pleaded guilty. Two were acquitted. The entire case has been widely criticised as politically motivated.

The plan for the primary, held ahead of an election scheduled for September 2020, was probably legal at the time the activists drew it up. It was also clever. Rather than split the pro-democracy vote in a system already rigged against them, they hoped to run a single slate of candidates. If their camp went on to win a majority, they planned to vote down the budget and so force the chief executive at the time, Carrie Lam, to resign.

The activists had been emboldened by the huge pro-democracy protests that rocked the city in 2019. By the time the primary took place, though, the environment had changed dramatically. In the interim, covid-19 had put an end to the demonstrations. And just days before the primary was held—attracting 600,000 of Hong Kong’s 4.5m voters—the central government imposed a draconian national-security law on the city. It was under this measure that the Hong Kong 47 were arrested.

The pandemic eventually provided the government with an excuse to postpone a general election it was fearful of losing. But that did not diminish the crimes of the activists, said officials. The justices in the case called Benny Tai, an affable law professor, “the mastermind” of the primary plan. He received the longest sentence: ten years.

During the trial hundreds of people queued to secure a seat in court (pictured), suggesting a level of latent support for the pro-democracy movement. But the security law enacted in 2020 and a new one passed this year have instilled fear in Hong Kong’s liberals.

Their mood is unlikely to improve in the near term. On November 20th the trial of Jimmy Lai resumed. Mr Lai is accused of sedition and colluding with foreign forces. The former media mogul and generous supporter of anti-Communist causes, who is 76, has been held in solitary confinement for more than three years. His friends say he is resigned to dying in prison—and that his real crime, like that of the Hong Kong 47, is supporting democracy.■

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