Hong Kong Court Convicts Tiananmen Vigil Organizers of Inciting Subversion

A Hong Kong court on Friday convicted two former organisers of the city’s annual Tiananmen Square vigils of inciting subversion under the national security law imposed by Beijing.

Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, and Chow Hang-tung, 41, were found guilty by three government-approved judges. The judgment centred on their repeated use of the phrase “end one-party dictatorship” in the activities of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China.

The alliance had organised the territory’s largest annual commemorations of the 1989 crackdown for decades until it was forced to dissolve. The judges ruled that the defendants intended to undermine confidence in the Chinese Communist Party by stirring hostility and division.

Both face a maximum sentence of 10 years. The alliance itself was also convicted. Foreign diplomats observed the proceedings.

The case is one of the most closely watched applications of the security law to peaceful political expression. Prosecutors argued that the slogan itself crossed the legal line regardless of other actions or beliefs. Defence lawyers had maintained that the phrase formed part of long-standing democratic advocacy that predated the law.

Lee and Chow had already spent years in detention or under bail conditions related to the case, which began in 2021. Sentencing has not yet been scheduled.

The verdict further narrows the space for public remembrance of the 1989 events in Hong Kong, where even private vigils have faced increasing restrictions since 2020.