Hong Kong appeals court upholds jailing of 12 democracy campaigners

Hong Kong (AFP) – A Hong Kong appeals court on Monday upheld the convictions and sentences of a dozen democracy campaigners jailed for subversion during the city's largest trial under a Beijing-imposed national security law.

The 12 appellants were among 45 opposition figures, including some of the Chinese city's best-known activists, who were sentenced to prison in 2024 for organising an unofficial primary election that authorities deemed a subversive plot.

The 2020 poll had hoped to improve the chances of pro-democracy lawmakers winning a majority in the legislature, so that they could then threaten to veto the city budget unless the government accepted demands such as universal suffrage.

On Monday High Court Chief Judge Jeremy Poon said the poll was devised as part of a "constitutional weapon of mass destruction", which was unlawful even without the threat of using force.

"The pursuit for universal suffrage does not entitle (a person) to embark on a plan ... for the purpose of seriously interfering in or destroying the constitutional order," Poon wrote.

The three-judge panel dismissed appeals from the 12, including ex-lawmaker "Long Hair" Leung Kwok-hung, former journalist Gwyneth Ho and Gordon Ng, an Australian citizen.

The campaigners smiled and waved from the dock to their supporters in the public gallery, which included defendants in the same case who had finished serving time.

Pro-democracy activist Chan Po-ying, wife of defendant Leung, said the outcome was "absurd" and that judges "presumed that the defendants wanted to subvert state power".

Amnesty International Hong Kong Overseas spokesperson Fernando Cheung said the court had "missed a critical opportunity to correct this mass injustice".

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