Hong Kong: Who are the 47 pro-democracy activists?

From a 68-year-old former opposition lawmaker to a 27-year-old pupil activist, a few of Hong Kong’s best-known pro-democracy campaigners await a verdict on subversion expenses this week.

They’re amongst 47 protesters and activists – higher referred to as the Hong Kong 47 – who were charged three years ago in what was seen as the largest crackdown below the Nationwide Safety Legislation (NSL) imposed by China.

Officers accused the 47 – eight ladies and 39 males – of attempting to “overthrow” the federal government by operating unofficial primaries to select opposition candidates for native elections.

The primaries had been held in July 2020 in defiance of Hong Kong officers and amid warnings that they may breach the NSL, which had come into impact days earlier than.

Beijing defends the legislation, which adopted mass pro-democracy protests, as mandatory to keep up stability, however critics say it has stripped the town of its prized autonomy and freedoms.

Some are well-known, equivalent to opposition lawmakers – Claudia Mo, Helena Wong, Kwok ka-ki – and icons of the 2014 pro-democracy protests that rocked Hong Kong – Joshua Wong and Benny Tai.

However many like Owen Chow, Ventus Lau and Tiffany Yuen represented a brand new era of vocal activists. Mr Lau and Mr Chow had been amongst lots of who stormed the town’s Legislative Council (LegCo) and spray-painted Hong Kong’s emblem in what grew to become a pivotal second within the 2019 protests.

Then there are those that weren’t concerned in politics however had been galvanised by the 2019 protests – social staff like Hendrick Lui, entrepreneurs like Mike Lam and a former nurse, Winnie Yu.

Sixteen of the 47 have pleaded not responsible and, if convicted on Thursday, might be jailed for all times, though sentencing is predicted later.

The remaining 31 have pleaded responsible. 4 of them testifed for the prosecution, together with former lawmakers Au Nok-hin and Andrew Chiu. Whereas this sometimes results in a diminished sentence, it’s unclear if it applies to the NSL.

“They’re compelled to make the not possible choice between pleading responsible to a non-existent crime for a possible discount in sentence, or preventing a shedding battle below the unjust nationwide safety legislation,” Amnesty Worldwide’s Deputy Regional Director Dana Younger stated in a report.

Different distinguished figures equivalent to Nathan Legislation and ex-legislator Ted Hui additionally ran within the primaries, however fled Hong Kong.

So by the point the 47 had been arrested in early 2021, most of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy motion was behind bars or in exile. Many of the accused have been in jail since then as pre-trial detentions have turn into the norm below NSL.

China known as him a “hardcore troublemaker” for advocating Hong Kong independence and describing the Communist Occasion’s rule as a “dictatorship”.

A scholar and legislation professor, Benny Tai first drew consideration when he wrote a newspaper column proposing an occupy sit-in to demand better democracy.

This ultimately grew to become the pro-democracy Occupy Central motion that he based together with two others. It was a historic civil disobedience campaignt that known as for honest and free elections in Hong Kong.

The motion died down however 5 years later, in 2019, Mr Tai was sentenced to jail for his function within the protests.

A yr later, after the NSL was imposed, he was fired from his tenured job on the prestigious College of Hong Kong (HKU) over his legal conviction.

Mr Tai accused the college of bowing to Chinese language stress and known as it the “finish of educational freedom” within the metropolis.

“I’m heartbroken to witness the demise of my beloved college,” the 60-year-old later stated in a Fb publish.

By then, he was already dealing with accusations of subversion below NSL for organising what Hong Kong and Beijing officals known as an “unlawful” main.

Arguably Hong Kong’s most well-known pro-democracy activist, Joshua Wong’s journey into activism began when he was simply 14.

By 2014, he had turn into the face of the Umbrella Motion, a mass pupil protests with the umbrella as a logo, which sprang up alongside the Occupy Central sit-in.

He was simply 20 when his activism first landed him in jail. He had extra spells in jail, together with one in 2019, when he walked out a day after lots of of 1000’s marched towards a massively controversial extradition invoice – it will enable Hong Kongers to be despatched to mainland China to face trial.

The protests towards the invoice engulfed Hong Kong for months. Mr Wong was amongst 1000’s who held a 15-hour siege of police headquarters in Wan Chai district – they pelted the constructing with eggs and sprayed graffiti on its partitions – in June of that yr.

Prosecutors stated he led the protest, pointing to a video of him calling for the group to “utterly besiege police headquarters”. Though Mr Wong was a widely known campaigner, the 2019 protests had been extensively seen as a spontaneous, “leaderless” motion.

He was jailed for his function in them – and positioned in solitary confinement.

However he remained defiant after pleading responsible: “Maybe the authorities want me to remain in jail one time period after one other. However I’m persuaded that neither jail bars, nor election ban, nor every other arbitrary powers would cease us from activism.”

He was nonetheless serving his sentence when he was charged with subversion below NSL.

Former opposition lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung, higher referred to as Lengthy Hair for his hairstyle, as soon as described himself as a “Marxist revolutionary”.

The 68-year-old was identified for his political theatrics – one in every of his singature strikes concerned hurling bananas as an indication of protest. When he was sworn in once more as a lawmaker in 2016, he launched a balloon with a political banner and held a yellow umbrella, declaring that the “Umbrella motion would by no means finish”.

This bought him disqualified from the council. He was arrested and had repeated stints in jail for collaborating within the 2019 protests.

After the NSL was imposed in 2020, he married his long-time companion, Vanessa Chan, also referred to as Chan Po-ying, who’s a distinguished activist. They had been among the many founding members of a political occasion, the League of Social Democrats.

They stated they determined to marry as a result of ought to one in every of them be jailed, they’d have better authorized rights equivalent to jail visitation.

Forty days after the marriage, Mr Leung was charged with subversion over the first.

Claudia Mo, identified affectionately in Cantonese as Auntie Mo, was a distinguished opposition lawmaker.

She had been a journalist on the AFP information company, the place she lined the 1989 Tiananmen Sq. crackdown.

The 67-year-old helped arrange the opposition Civic Occasion in 2006 and by 2012, she received a seat in LegCo – she gave up British citizenship to carry workplace.

She was amongst 15 lawmakers who resigned en masse from LegCo after 4 pro-democracy lawmakers had been ousted in November 2020. The transfer left LegCo with no opposition presence.

“We had to,” she said at the time. “We have to protest towards what might be the last word Beijing crackdown on Hong Kong – to silence the final little bit of dissent within the metropolis.”

Police “smashed by into the lounge” to arrest her within the early hours of 6 January 2021, the FT reported, citing an unnamed supply who described the raid as “sheer thuggery”.

She has been in jail all through. When her husband, British journalist Philip Bowring, was critically sick, Ms Mo was not allowed to go to him from jail.

An extended-time political and LGBTQI activist, Jimmy Sham additionally led one in every of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy teams, the Civil Human Rights Entrance (CHRF).

The group disbanded in 2021, saying it might not function amid “unprecedented” challenges posed by China’s crackdown.

Mr Sham was violently attacked a number of instances in 2019, and in a single occasion, was left bloodied on the road, with a head damage. The CHRF accused authorities supporters of this and different assaults towards pro-democracy activists on the time – nevertheless it was by no means confirmed.

The 37-year-old married his companion in New York in 2013 and fought for Hong Kong to recognise abroad same-sex marriages. Hong Kong’s high court docket granted him a partial victory in 2023 when it ordered the federal government to determine a framework to recognise same-sex partnerships.

By then Mr Sham was in jail for his function within the Hong Kong primaries.

Bail has been repeatedly denied, with a decide saying he was a “decided and resolute younger man” who would probably proceed to commit “acts endangering nationwide safety” ought to he be launched.

Thirty three-year-old Gwyneth Ho labored for a number of information shops together with BBC Chinese language, government-run broadcaster RTHK and Stand Information, earlier than pivoting to politics.

She shot to fame when she inadvertently reside streamed herself being crushed up by a mob throughout the 2019 protests. The assault put her in hospital.

She ran within the 2020 primaries deemed unlawful by Hong Kong officers – and received a excessive variety of votes in her constituency. Lower than a yr later, she was arrested.

She stated throughout her trial that it was “inevitable” that the 12 pro-democracy candidates, together with her, had been disqualified from contesting the legislative elections.

“I consider that almost all Hong Kongers knew deep down of their hearts that preventing for democracy below the Chinese language communist regime has at all times been a fantasy,” she stated.

She was quickly stopped by Excessive Court docket Decide Alex Lee who informed her to “relax”.