Reuters: Jailing of 45 Hong Kong democrats in national security trial draws criticism – Benny Tai Gets 10 Years
  • Activists jailed up to 10 yrs over unofficial ‘primary election’
  • U.S. condemns ‘politically motivated’ case, imposes visa bans
  • Beijing defends laws as necessary for order post-2019 protests
  • Australian FM ‘gravely concerned with sentencing
HONG KONG, Nov 19 (Reuters) – Hong Kong’s High Court on Tuesday jailed 45 pro-democracy activists for up to 10 years following a national security trial that has damaged the city’s once feisty democracy movement and drawn criticism from the U.S. and other countries.
A total of 47 pro-democracy activists were arrested and charged in 2021 with conspiracy to commit subversion under a Beijing-imposed national security law which carried sentences of up to life in prison.
Benny Tai, a former legal scholar identified in the judgment as a mastermind of the activists’ plans, was sentenced to 10 years in jail, the longest sentence so far under the 2020 national security law.
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