Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

World

Hong Kong's Joshua Wong handed extra jail time for Tiananmen vigil

Jailed Hong Kong dissident Joshua Wong was handed an additional 10-month sentence on Thursday.

Hong Kong's Joshua Wong handed extra jail time for Tiananmen vigil
Jailed Hong Kong dissident Joshua Wong pleaded guilty taking part in an "unlawful" Tiananmen Square protest last year - Copyright AFP/File Anthony WALLACE
Jailed Hong Kong dissident Joshua Wong pleaded guilty taking part in an "unlawful" Tiananmen Square protest last year - Copyright AFP/File Anthony WALLACE

Jailed Hong Kong dissident Joshua Wong was handed an additional 10-month sentence on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to taking part in an “unlawful” protest last year over the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Hong Kong has regularly marked the anniversary of Beijing’s deadly 1989 repression of protests in Tiananmen Square with huge candlelight vigils.

But last year’s event was banned for the first time, with police citing the coronavirus pandemic and security fears following huge democracy protests that roiled Hong Kong the year before.

Tens of thousands defied the ban and massed peacefully at the vigil’s traditional site in Victoria Park.

Since then prosecutors have brought charges against 24 prominent democracy activists who showed up at the vigil, the latest in a string of criminal cases that have ensnared the city’s beleaguered democracy movement.

On Thursday, four of those activists —  Joshua Wong, Lester Shum, Tiffany Yuen and Janelle Leung — were handed jail terms after pleading guilty to unlawful assembly charges last month.

Wong — one of the most recognisable faces of Hong Kong’s democracy movement — is already serving a 13.5 month jail sentence for taking part in a protest during the 2019 unrest.

Judge Stanley Chan handed him a consecutive 10 months jail for the new conviction which will start once his first sentence is finished.

“The sentence should deter people from offending and reoffending in the future,” Chan said.

Shum was given six months while Yuen and Leung were handed four months.

Wong, Shum and Yuen have also been charged under a new national security law Beijing imposed on the city last year.

Ahead of Thursday’s sentencing they were being held in pre-trial detention and face up to life in prison if convicted under the new security law.

AFP
Written By

With 2,400 staff representing 100 different nationalities, AFP covers the world as a leading global news agency. AFP provides fast, comprehensive and verified coverage of the issues affecting our daily lives.

You may also like:

Tech & Science

3D tissue printing is the Holy Grail of restorative and regenerative technologies. This really is fantastic work.

Business

This is the epitome of a no-brainer, and it’s just too hard.

Life

The UK’s driving theory tests have been consistently updated since 2007, introducing new question styles.

Entertainment

Robert Downey Jr. ("Oppenheimer") stars in the Broadway show "McNeal," which is being performed at the Vivian Beaumont Theater at New York's Lincoln Center.