A Hong Kong court has convicted two prominent activists who organised annual vigils commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, in one of the most significant prosecutions under the city's Beijing-imposed national security law. Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, and Chow Hang-tung, 41 — former chair and vice-chair of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China — were found guilty on Friday of inciting others to "organise, plan, commit or participate in acts by unlawful means with a view to subverting the state power." Both face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison; sentencing is expected at a later date. A third defendant, Albert Ho, 74, a former lawmaker and former chairman of Hong Kong's largest opposition Democratic Party, had pleaded guilty to the same charge in January.

The three-judge panel — composed of government-approved national security judges — found that it was the defendants' repeated use of the slogan "end one-party dictatorship" that breached the law. The court ruled the defendants "intended to cause others to lose confidence in the Chinese Communist Party by stirring up hostility and causing division," adding that even peaceful acts of resistance carried that risk under the legislation. The trial, which began in January and ran over 24 days, saw Chow represent herself; she told the court in May that the law itself was on trial. In the courtroom, Chow smiled as the verdict was read, while Lee made a heart-shaped gesture toward supporters in the gallery before being led away.

The Hong Kong Alliance was founded in May 1989 to support pro-democracy students whose movement was crushed weeks later when Chinese troops and tanks cleared Tiananmen Square in Beijing. Estimates of the death toll from that crackdown range from a few hundred to many thousands. For more than three decades, Hong Kong and Macau were the only places on Chinese-administered territory where public vigils to mourn those killed were permitted — a distinction long seen as emblematic of the relative freedoms guaranteed to Hong Kong after its handover from British to Chinese rule in 1997. Those commemorations were effectively banned from 2020 onwards, initially under Covid-19 restrictions, and have never resumed.

The national security law was imposed by Beijing in 2020 following a year of sometimes-violent pro-democracy protests that shook the international financial hub in 2019. Authorities argued the law was necessary to restore order. Critics say it has gutted Hong Kong's civil society: most of the city's opposition leaders have since been detained or have fled. In a letter from prison addressed to a British political figure, Cambridge-educated barrister Chow wrote that authorities were trying to "erase some memories" from Hong Kong's history.

Rights organisations condemned the verdict. Amnesty International said the case "relies on vague, overly broad and arbitrary definitions of 'subversion'" and called Lee and Chow "prisoners of conscience" who should be released immediately. Human Rights Watch's Asia director said the convictions demonstrated "how public displays of mourning have become a crime in Hong Kong." Outside the courthouse, dozens of police officers gathered as members of the public — some of whom had queued overnight for a seat — emerged from the hearing. "This outcome highlights the central government's total control regarding national security enforcement in the region," one supporter told reporters.