Watchdog Urges Hong Kong To Release 3 Activists Jailed After 2019 Unrest

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 02nd December, 2020) Three Hong Kong activists jailed on Wednesday for anti-government protests in 2019 must be released immediately and unconditionally, a prominent rights watchdog said Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, a local court in Hong Kong sentenced three former members of the disbanded political party, Demosisto � Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam � for taking part in a protest that local authorities defined as a "riot" outside a police station in Wan Chai on June 21 of last year.

"These three activists have been jailed in violation of their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly. Their convictions should be overturned without delay and they must be released immediately and unconditionally," Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific regional director, Yamini Mishra, said in a press release.

Mishra added that by targeting well-known activists who have protested peacefully, the authorities were warning that anyone who would take part in anti-government protests would face the same measures.

Local authorities in Hong Kong stepped up their crackdown on activists and protesters who took part in the mass protests in the city last year after the Chinese authorities in Beijing passed the controversial national security law in July.

Both local authorities in Hong Kong and Chinese authorities in Beijing argued that the national security law was necessary for safeguarding China's sovereignty and would not infringe upon the civil liberties of local residents.