Jimmy Lai, prominent lawyer Chow Hang-tung and journalist Gwyneth Ho were among 24 activists charged over their participation in a banned Tiananmen candlelight vigil last year.
Hong Kong’s sole remaining anti-Bejing newspaper is publishing its last edition, forced to shut down after five editors and executives were arrested and millions of dollars in its assets were frozen as part of China's crackdown on dissent.
Anti-China newspaper will shut its operations by Wednesday after authorities froze company's assets and most of its employees resigned, local media report.
Beijing critic and founder of Apple Daily newspaper Jimmy Lai must now serve a total of 20 months, including prison time for participating in anti-China protests on August 18 and August 31, 2019.
New changes cut proportion of directly elected seats in legislature from half to less than a quarter, while a new body will vet candidates and bar those deemed insufficiently patriotic towards Beijing from participating.
Hong Kong’s leading anti-Beijing advocates were found guilty earlier this month of organising and participating in a massive protest in August 2019, where an estimated 1.7 million people marched in opposition to a security bill.
Convicted opposition activists include media tycoon and founder of the Apple Daily tabloid Jimmy Lai, as well as 82-year-old Martin Lee, a veteran of the city’s anti-Beijing movement.
The mass arrests were the largest move against Hong Kong’s activist movement since the national security law was imposed by Beijing in the semi-autonomous territory last year.
Media tycoon Jimmy Lai was charged on suspicion of colluding with foreign forces and endangering national security under the new national security law that Chia imposed on Hong Kong.
Jimmy Lai of Next Digital, which publishes Apple Daily newspaper, is among 10 people arrested on August 10 over suspicions of violating a national security law and colluding with a foreign country.
The arrest comes after China imposed a sweeping new national security law on Hong Kong in late June.
More than a day after his arrest under China's newly imposed national security law in Hong Kong, the anti-Beijing figure was released to the cheers of his supporters.
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