HONG KONG, China: A Hong Kong Court on Tuesday convicted 45 people in the largest trial under national security laws, with Benny Tai receiving the longest sentence of 10 years.
According to Chinese state run news agency, Xinhua 45 people convicted of different charges were sentenced to imprisonment ranging from 50 months to 10 years in Hong Kong on Tuesday.
It added that the High Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) on Tuesday held a hearing at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts to deliver sentences.
Tai’s jail term is the longest yet handed out under the law, which was imposed by China in 2020, AFP reported.
The group, which included figures from across Hong Kong’s once-diverse political spectrum, was charged after they held an informal poll in 2020 as part of a strategy to win a pro-democracy electoral majority.
Along with Tai, politicians Au Nok-hin, Andrew Chiu, Ben Chung and Australian citizen Gordon Ng were singled out as organisers and received sentences of up to seven years three months.
Forty-seven people were initially charged after they were arrested in January 2021, making this case the largest by number of defendants. Two were acquitted in May.
The US strongly condemns the sentencing of 45 defendants convicted in Hong Kong’s largest security trial, a spokesperson for the US consulate in the city stated on Tuesday.
Australia also expressed concerned over the development and said it was “gravely concerned” by Tuesday’s sentencing of 45 people under Hong Kong’s law, including Australian citizen Gordon Ng.
