A Hong Kong court on Tuesday sentenced 45 pro-democracy figures to prison in the city's largest trial under the national security law, with mastermind Benny Tai receiving the longest sentence of 10 years. The trial, stemming from a 2020 informal poll aimed at gaining a pro-democracy legislative majority, drew international condemnation for eroding political freedoms.
The court handed sentences ranging from four years to 10 years. Organizers, including Tai and politicians Au Nok-hin and Gordon Ng, received the harshest penalties. Activist Owen Chow, who played a proactive role, received seven years and nine months.
Critics, including the U.S. and Australia, called the trial evidence of growing authoritarianism, while Hong Kong and China defended the law as restoring order after 2019 protests. Rights groups decried the sentences as a blow to civil liberties, with 31 of the 47 original defendants having pleaded guilty to avoid harsher terms.