A Hong Kong court delivered its verdict on Thursday, convicting Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, and Chow Hang-tung, 41, of inciting subversion under the city's national security law. The two activists, who had organised annual candlelight vigils to commemorate the Chinese government's deadly 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square, both pleaded not guilty. They now face a maximum sentence of ten years in prison, with a sentencing date yet to be set. The charges stemmed from what prosecutors described as the pair's efforts to incite others to "organise, plan, commit or participate in acts by unlawful means with a view to subverting state power.

" In court, prosecutors argued that the two had endangered national security under the cover of human rights advocacy. The national security law, imposed by Beijing on Hong Kong in June 2020 following the city's massive pro-democracy protests of 2019, effectively banned all public commemorations of the Tiananmen anniversary — events that had drawn tens of thousands of participants in previous years. The convictions mark the latest chapter in Beijing's sweeping crackdown on political dissent in a city that once held the world's largest annual Tiananmen memorial. Since 2020, dozens of opposition figures have been arrested, jailed, or driven into exile, and civil society organisations that once defined Hong Kong's distinct political culture have been dissolved.

Critics from London to Taipei argue that the law has fundamentally dismantled the "one country, two systems" framework under which Hong Kong was returned to China by Britain in 1997.