Thousands of people attend a candlelight vigil for victims of the Chinese government's brutal military crackdown in June 1989 on protesters in Beijing's Tiananmen Square at Victoria Park, Hong Kong, June 4, 2019.
© AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File
(New York) – The Hong Kong High Court convicted two activists who have long advocated for justice for the victims of China’s 1989 Tiananmen Massacre, Human Rights Watch said today. Hong Kong authorities should quash the convictions, which violate the defendants’ rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
On August 21, 2026, the court convicted Chow Hang-tung, 41, and Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, former leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, the now-disbanded organizer of the city’s annual vigil commemorating the massacre. They were convicted of “inciting subversion” under Hong Kong’s National Security Law. A third former leader, Albert Ho, 74, had pleaded guilty to the same charge in January. They face up to 10 years in prison.
“The conviction of these Tiananmen vigil organizers shows that public displays of mourning have become a crime in Hong Kong,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “These activists exposed how the Chinese government fears the memory of its own atrocities and treats remembrance as a national security threat.”
Under article 22 of the National Security Law, “subversion” refers to acts that seek to “overthrow” the Chinese government through “force,” “threat of force,” or other unspecified “unlawful means.”
The court ruled that the Hong Kong Alliance’s mission to “end one-party dictatorship” in China constitutes an attempt to “overthrow” the Chinese government.
The court acknowledged that the group had never used or advocated the use of violence to achieve that goal; nonetheless, the group’s advocacy amounted
