Jimmy Lai, Martin Lee, Margaret Ng and four others had their convictions for organising an unauthorised assembly overturned
Seven of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy advocates had part of their convictions quashed Monday, over their roles in one of the biggest pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Jimmy Lai, founder of the now defunct Apple Daily newspaper; Martin Lee, the founding chairman of the city’s Democratic Party; and five former pro-democracy lawmakers, including barrister Margaret Ng, had been found guilty of organising and participating an unauthorized assembly.
Lai, Lee Cheuk-yan, Leung Kwok-hung and Cyd Ho were jailed between eight and 18 months. Martin Lee, an octogenarian nicknamed the city’s “Father of Democracy,” Ng and Albert Ho were given suspended jail sentences.
Their convictions two years ago and their sentences were widely seen as another blow to the city’s flagging democracy movement under an unprecedented crackdown by Beijing and Hong Kong authorities.
