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The defendants were prosecuted in 2021 for their role in the unofficial primary election under the 2020 National Security Act.
They are accused of trying to paralyze Hong Kong’s government and force the city’s leader to resign by seeking to win a legislative majority and using it to indiscriminately block government budgets.
45 convicts received prison sentences ranging from four years and two months to 10 years.
Australian Gordon Ng was jailed for seven years and three months, and Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong said the government was “gravely concerned”
“Mr Ng and others in NSL47 were arrested in January 2021 for organizing and participating in the primaries. Mr Ng was sentenced under the National Security Act on May 30, 2024,” Wong said.
“Australia has expressed its strong objections to the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities’ continued broad application of national security laws, including to Australian citizens.
“We call on China to stop stifling freedom of expression, assembly, media and civil society, in accordance with the recommendations of the Human Rights and Special Procedures Committee, including the repeal of the National Security Act in Hong Kong.”
Lawyer Benny Tai received the longest sentence.
They either pleaded guilty or were found guilty of conspiracy to commit subversion by three government-approved judges.
The judges said in the ruling that activists’ plans to bring about change through elections would undermine the government’s authority and create a constitutional crisis.
Two of the 47 originally accused were acquitted.
Observers say the case illustrates how authorities have suppressed dissent after large-scale anti-government protests in 2019, with media stifled and public choice reduced in elections.
The drastic changes reflect how Beijing’s promise to preserve the former British colony’s civil liberties for 50 years when it returned to China in 1997 is increasingly fraying, they said.
The governments of Beijing and Hong Kong insist that the law is necessary for the stability of the city.
The subversion case involves pro-democracy activists from across the spectrum.
They include Tai, former student leader Joshua Wong and former MPs.
Most of them had already been in custody for more than three and a half years before the sentencing.
Being separated hurt them and their families.
While advocating for lesser sentences, some activists were remorseful and apologetic, while others remained defiant.
Lawyers for Tai and several other defendants argued that their clients honestly believed at the time that their actions were legal.
More than 200 people lined up in moderate rain and wind Tuesday morning for a seat in court, including one of the acquitted defendants, Lee Yue-shun.
Lee said he hopes citizens will show they care as the court case develops.
“Public interpretation and understanding has a far-reaching impact on the future development of our society,” he said.
A supporter known locally as “Grandpa Wong”, who did not know how to spell his name in English, said he wanted to see the convicted activists again.
He is about 100 years old and was afraid that he would not be able to see them when they were released from prison.
Wei Siu-lik, a friend of convicted activist Clarissa Yeung, said she arrived at 4 a.m. even though her leg was injured.
“I wanted to let them know that there are still many who are coming for them,” she said.
Thirty-one activists pleaded guilty and have a better chance of having their sentences reduced.
The law allows for a range of sentences depending on the severity of the crime and the defendant’s role in it, from less than three years for the lightest to 10 years to life for people convicted of “serious” crimes.
The unofficial primaries in July 2020, which attracted 610,000 voters, were supposed to elect pro-democracy candidates who would then run in official elections.
At the time, the pro-democracy camp hoped to secure a legislative majority, which would allow them to press for the demands of the protests in 2019, including greater police accountability and democratic elections for the city leader.
But the government postponed parliamentary elections that would have followed the primaries, citing risks to public health during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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