Chow Hang-tung says prison will not silence her

Hong Kong activist Chow Hang-tung told a court on Friday that she would continue speaking up for democracy even behind bars, after being convicted of inciting subversion over her role in annual vigils marking China's 1989 Tiananmen crackdown.

Chow, 41, was convicted last week along with fellow activist Lee Cheuk-yan, 69. The verdict was condemned by the United Nations, rights groups and several countries as a blow to free speech.

During a mitigation hearing, Chow, a barrister representing herself, rejected the verdict and said she would keep seeking redress for the 1989 crackdown. She told the court she would rather be seen as a criminal under the law than be a hypocrite.

Chow argued against any prison time. Lee's lawyer, Erik Shum, asked for a sentence in the lower band of five years or less, citing what he called the activists' peaceful, non-violent advocacy.

A third defendant, former lawmaker Albert Ho, 74, pleaded guilty in January and also appeared in court on Friday. Judge Alex Lee said the court would hand down the sentence within two weeks.

Hong Kong and Macau had been the only places on Chinese soil that allowed public vigils for those who died on June 4, 1989, when authorities sent troops and tanks to crush protests in and around Beijing's Tiananmen Square calling for political reform. Public commemoration has been effectively banned since Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020.