Lu Siwei and Ren Quanniu were barred from aiding a group of pro-democracy protesters who were arrested at sea, but could still lose their licenses.
The Chinese legal authorities have threatened to revoke the licenses of two lawyers hired to help a group of Hong Kong protesters who were arrested last year while trying to flee to Taiwan by speedboat. Ten of the activists were convicted last week by a court in the mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen of illegal boundary crossing and sentenced to prison terms ranging from seven months to three years. Two other members of the group who were minors at the time of their arrest in August were returned to Hong Kong, a semiautonomous Chinese territory. For Hong Kong’s pro-democracy opposition, the case has highlighted fears of the Communist Party-controlled legal system on the mainland and the risks it poses to the city’s tradition of an independent judiciary. Most of the group faced charges in Hong Kong connected with antigovernment protests in 2019, including arson, rioting, assaulting police officers and weapons possession. One member, Andy Li, was under investigation on suspicion of violating the national security law imposed on Hong Kong last year.
