The offence centred on an unofficial primary election held in July 2020 that aimed to help them win a controlling majority in the legislature.
Pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong (L) and other winners of the unofficial democratic primaries pose at the end of a press conference in Hong Kong on July 15, 2020. Photo: Anthony Wallace/AFP.
A panel of three judges handpicked to hear national security trials ruled that the democrats had planned to use their constitutional powers to veto the government budget, ultimately forcing the resignation of the chief executive and a government shut down. This would have resulted in a “constitutional crisis,” the judges ruled.
Among those jailed were some of Hong Kong’s best known political figures, labour rights advocates and a former journalist. HKFP takes a look at the activists and former lawmakers sentenced to years behind bars.
The activists
Joshua Wong, jailed for 4 years and 8 months
Pro democracy activist and South Horizons Community Organiser Joshua Wong announces his run for 2019 District Council elections in Hong Kong on September 28, 2019. Photo: Philip Fong/AFP.
Joshua Wong, 28, is among the most recognisable faces of those imprisoned, having stepped into the international spotlight during the Umbrella Movement of 2014. He got his start in politics as a secondary school student protesting against the high-speed rail link connecting Hong Kong and China in 2010. The next year he founded student activist group Scholarism to protest at a proposed national education curriculum.
Wong was arrested several times over the years for protest-related offences, including in relation to the Umbrella Movement and the protests and unrest in 2019, and was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to commit subversion while in prison.
During mitigation in July, Wong’s lawyer highlighted his contributions to the community. During Covid-19, the activist handed out face masks and sanitation products to residents in the Southern District, where he lived. “He very much hope[s] that after all this… he could part with his past history and be able to reform himself after he serves his sentence for this particular offence,” his lawyer told the court.
Lau Chak-fung, jailed for 4 years and 5 months
Lau Chak-fung. Photo: X.
Lau Chak-fung, 28, was a former chairperson of the student union of Hong Kong Shue Yan University. He was also a member of the executive committee of the Hong Kong Federation of Students in 2018 and 2019.
Lau joined the unofficial primary in 2020 but failed to secure a spot in the West Kowloon constituency. He was considered an independent candidate with “localist” leanings, an ideology that emphasised Hong Kong’s cultural and political autonomy amid perceived encroachment by Beijing.
He pleaded guilty ahead of trial. During mitigation, his lawyers said Lau had joined the primary to serve the community and the city. He was misled into believing it was legal, they added.
Tam Tak-chi, jailed for 4 years and 5 months
Hong Kong activist “Fast Beat” Tam Tak-chi. File photo: Etan Liam, via Flickr.
Known as “Fast Beat” from his career as a radio host, Tam Tak-chi, 52, was a member of People Power, a democratic party seen as having a more radical stance. He ran in the District Council elections in 2015 and 2019 but lost both times. He also failed to secure a seat in the Legislative Council (LegCo) when he ran in 2016.
In 2022, Tam became the first person to be charged under a colonial-era sedition law since Hong Kong’s 1997 Handover from Britain to China. He pleaded not guilty to “uttering seditious words” but was convicted in March 2022 and sentenced to three years and four months. He is set to challenge his conviction and sentence at the Court of Final Appeal in January.
During mitigation in the subversion case, his lawyer said Tam was remorseful and had retired from politics. The judges were urged to take into account the time already served for sedition.
Carol Ng, jailed for 4 years and 5 months
Carol Ng, chair of the Confederation of Trade Unions. Photo: Screenshot.
Ng had been involved in Hong Kong’s labour movements since 2003, when she formed the British Airways Hong Kong Cabin Crews Union. Now 54, she joined the now-defunct pro-democracy Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions as chairperson in 2016.
Ng ran in the primary for the Labour Party but finished with the second-least votes in the polls for her constituency — a “dismal” performance, her lawyer said in arguing that this reflected her low level of involvement in the conspiracy. It was alleged that she hoped to rally trade unions and organise strikes against the government.
During her mitigation hearing, Ng’s lawyer said it was never her aim to subvert state power, quoting Ng as saying in her mitigation letter that she only wished to “afford our society more satisfied workers so that our society can operate better.”
Gwyneth Ho, jailed for 7 years
Gwyneth Ho. File photo: Gwyneth Ho, via Facebook.
Journalist-turned-activist Gwyneth Ho, 34, pleaded not guilty to the subversion charge and was convicted in May, with the judges ruling that she was among the participants with the “most radical political view.” She declined to submit a mitigation statement.
The former Stand News reporter had testified that she would “absolutely” veto the government budget had she become a lawmaker. “What [Ho] really wanted was a completely new political system and structure, as she said repeatedly that the existing one had been dysfunctional and [was] unable to serve the people of Hong Kong,” the judges’ ruling read.
The prosecution alleged that Ho attended a press conference for “resistance camp” candidates, during which they “reiterate[d] their views to maintain their unwavering insurgence against the government.” Ho was also quoted as saying at a forum that more resistance camp members needed seats in the legislature to “break the impasse that the Chinese Communist Party set for Hong Kong.”
Ventus Lau, jailed for 4 years and 5 months
Ventus Lau. Photo: Holmes Chan/HKFP.
Ventus Lau, 31, launched his political career in 2013 when he joined the Neo Democrats, which disbanded in June 2021, as a community worker in the Sha Tin District.
He left the party around a year later and formed a localist group known as Shatin Community Network in 2015. Lau was disqualified from standing in the 2018 Legislative Council By-election for the New Territories East geographical constituency over his previous support for Hong Kong independence, though his disqualification was later ruled wrongful in court.
During the 2019 extradition bill unrest, Lau was the spokesperson for the Hong Kong Civil Assembly Team, which organised demonstrations with police approval. The team disbanded on March 3, 2021, three days after Lau was detained for the subversion offence.
After winning the unofficial primary election, Lau submitted nominations for the 2020 Legislative Council election. The returning officer asked Lau to clarify if he still advocated for Hong Kong’s independence, and whether he would continue to request the US to impose sanctions on Hong Kong. His nominations were eventually ruled as invalid in late July 2020.
During his mitigation, Lau said he pleaded guilty to the subversion charge because he agreed with the agenda put forward by Tai. He had “genuinely believed” the primary election would not be illegal, and he would not have joined if he knew he would end up in jail.
Owen Chow, jailed for 7 years and 9 months
Owen Chow. Photo: Candice Chau/HKFP.
Owen Chow was a member of the “resistance camp,’ a faction of the opposition known for its more radical views. The 27-year-old studied nursing at the Open University of Hong Kong.
Chow was arrested over the storming of the Legislative Council complex on the anniversary of the city’s Handover to China in 2019. He pleaded guilty to rioting and called the storming a “desperate” act that was not done on impulse. Chow was jailed for five years and one month in March.
The activist also ran in the District Council elections in 2019 but lost to a Democratic Party candidate.
Chow, who pleaded not guilty to the subversion offence, was said by judges in the verdict to hold a “more radical belief.”
Hendrick Lui, jailed for 4 years and 3 months
Defendant Hendrick Lui photographed on June 1, 2022. He was among the 27 democrats committed to the High Court on June 6, 2022. Photo: Lea Mok/HKFP.
Over the years, 42-year-old social worker Hendrick Lui spoke out against government proposals and policies, including by lodging legal challenges. In 2017, he challenged the government’s plan to locate a mainland China immigration checkpoint at the West Kowloon Express Rail Link, and in 2018 took the authorities to court over the small house policy, a controversial rule granting male indigenous villagers special land rights.
Lui ran in the District Council elections in 2015 and 2019 but lost to a pro-Beijing candidate both times. He also took part in the Legislative Council elections, unsuccessfully contesting a seat in the New Territories West constituency.
During mitigation, Lui’s lawyer said his conviction meant he would lose his qualification as a social worker, a profession he had long aspired to. The lawyer described the defendant as a “political novice” with a deep commitment to the community, who joined the primary scheme out of a “misguided desire” to pressure the government to respond to political demands.
Winnie Yu, jailed for 6 years and 9 months
Winnie Yu, the ex-chairperson of the Hospital Authority Employees Alliance. Photo: Winnie Yu, via Facebook.
A registered nurse, Winnie Yu, 37, became well known to the public for forming the Hospital Authority Employee Alliance (HAEA) in November 2019, when a series of new unions were established alongside the protests. In early 2020, the union, with 9,000 doctors and nurses as members, initiated a strike amid the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, urging the government to close Hong Kong’s border with mainland China.
Yu, who pleaded not guilty to the subversion charge, was granted bail in July 2021 . However, she was detained in March 2022 after her Facebook posts were considered to have violated the national security law.
Yu in a handwritten mitigation letter said she had decided to run for the legislature because she believed people had not been heard despite earlier mass protests. She said it was not a mistake to seek changes through votes, and that “probably my only mistake is that I love Hong Kong too much.”
Gordon Ng, jailed for 7 years and 3 months
Pro-democracy activist Gordon Ng, better known as “Lee Bak Lou.” File photo: Legco Petition YouTube screenshot.
Australian national Gordon Ng, 46, was among the 14 democrats found guilty this May after pleading not guilty to the charge. The activist initiated the “Say No to Primary Dodgers” campaign, which urged people not to vote for LegCo hopefuls who had not taken part in the primary. Judges in May cited the campaign’s Facebook page, in which Ng “appealed to the voters to resist and fight.”
Even though the Say No to Primary Dodgers campaign was initiated by Ng, judges said they were “sure” that he formed an agreement with former law professor Benny Tai, whom the the prosecution considered the “mastermind” of the conspiracy.
Ng said in his mitigation letter: “I believe that the holding of fair and regular elections provides the best counterbalance against a power potentially becoming tyrannical. It is for these reasons that I support the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, as I believe their cause of striving for democracy is a noble one.”
Frankie Fung, jailed for 4 years and 5 months
Frankie Fung. File photo: Frankie Fung, via Facebook.
Frankie Fung, 29, co-founded the now-defunct media outlet DB Channel, which the High Court described as a platform to call for sanctions and promote seditious ideologies. The digital media outlet, founded during the 2019 protests, folded after Judge Esther Toh refused Fung’s bail application more than two years ago.
Defence lawyer Nigel Kat said of Fung in July during mitigation hearings: “This is not a street fighter… this is a keen young passenger who does his best to make his voice heard.”
Wong Ji-yuet, jailed for 4 years and 5 months
Wong Ji-yuet attended a case management hearing at the High Court on September 7, 2022. Photo: Peter Lee/HKFP.
Wong Ji-yuet, 27, was once a spokesperson for youth activist group Scholarism, which was heavily involved in the 2014 Umbrella Movement but disbanded in 2016. She won the unofficial primary for the New Territories West constituency.
Wong pleaded guilty after her arrest for subversion and was granted bail pending sentencing.
She was sentenced to 37 months behind bars in July 2023 in a separate case involving a riot on a university campus in November 2019.
The court heard during mitigation that Wong grew up in a Christian family, which instilled the values of generosity and justice.
“I joined the primary as an independent candidate as I wished to bring positive changes to this place where I was born and raised, as well as to those who had been injured and lost hope,” she told the court in a letter.
Mike Lam, jailed for 5 years and 2 months
Mike Lam on April 28, 2022. Photo: Lea Mok/HKFP
Mike Lam, 36, worked as a customs officer but was fired after protesting mainland Chinese parallel traders. He subsequently established AbouThai, a Thai groceries business that became part of Hong Kong’s “yellow economic circle,” a network of firms known to support the pro-democracy movement.
After announcing on Facebook in 2020 that he was cutting ties with the yellow economic circle, Lam later became a witness for the prosecution, testifying against his peers.
Soon after this was revealed, several people were arrested over disorderly behaviour at AbouThai.
Lam was the only democrat to remain on bail until the sentencing.
The ex-lawmakers
Claudia Mo, jailed for 4 years and 2 months
Claudia Mo. File photo: Etan Liam, via Flickr.
A journalist turned politician, Claudia Mo, 67, became one of the founder members of the pro-democracy Civic Party in 2006. She was a legislator from 2012 to 2020, when she spoke out against the growing influence of mainland China on Hong Kong and urged Hong Kong authorities to take over the issuing of immigrant visas to mainland Chinese.
Mo resigned from the Civic Party in 2016, citing differences of opinion on localism and filibustering.
Her lawyer said Mo had reflected on her participation in the primary election, and realised that vetoing the government budget would not have been in the public interest. She hoped to have as much time as possible with her husband, who was hospitalised in 2023 while Mo was detained, when she was released.
Helena Wong, jailed for 6 years and 6 months
Helena Wong arrives at Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Law Courts Building, on May 30, 2024. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
A Christian with a PhD in political science of the University of California, Helena Wong, 65, worked as a secondary school and college teacher in the 1980s and 1990s. She had taken part in Hong Kong’s democracy movement since the 1980s, advocating more directly-elected seats in the legislature.
Following the 1997 Handover, Wong continued to advocate with other pro-democracy figures for direct elections of the chief executive and all lawmakers. She was elected as a legislator in the East Kowloon constituency and gained popularity in 2015 after she blew the whistle on a tainted water scandal in public housing estates. She was re-elected in 2016.
She took part in the primary in July 2020 but failed to be nominated, and later announced she would not stand.
She pleaded no guilty to the charge, with her lawyer describing her role in the primary as “marginal,” and that Wong only took part only because “she was under pressure.”
Jeremy Tam, jailed for 4 years and 2 months
Jeremy Tam. Photo: Civic Party Handout.
Jeremy Tam, 49, became involved in the political sector in 2007 while he was a Cathay Pacific pilot. He joined the pro-democracy Civic Party in 2010 stood unsuccessfully for the District Council and the Legislative Council before winning a LegCo seat in 2016.
Born in Hong Kong in 1975, Tam became a pilot in 2001 after obtaining a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in Australia. As a legislator, he questioned the government’s third runway project and the joint checkpoint arrangement for the high-speed rail link. He was an advocate of renovating industrial buildings for cultural and innovative events.
Tam quit Cathay in August 2019, when the carrier was under attack by the pro-establishment camp at the height of the protests that year. He announced his resignation from the Civic Party in a courtroom after his national security arrest.
Wu Chi-wai, jailed for 4 years and 5 months
Democratic Party chair Wu Chi-wai responds to the central government. Photo: RTHK screenshot.
Wu Chi-wai, 62, was a former chairperson of the city’s biggest opposition party the Democratic Party. He was elected lawmaker for two terms, serving from 2012 to 2020.
Wu began his political career in the early 1990s and in 2016 began acting as convener of the pan-democratic camp’s “lunchbox meetings.”
During mitigation, three former top government officials – Anthony Cheung, Yau Shing-mu, and Law Chi-kwong – wrote letters to the court, calling him a “rational and respectable politician.”
He was earlier sentenced in two separate court cases over his role in illegal protests in 2020.
Eddie Chu, jailed for 4 years and 5 months
Eddie Chu. File photo: Legislative Council, via Flickr.
Eddie Chu, 47, won election to LegCo in 2016 when he bagged 84,121 votes in the New Territories West constituency. Previously, he was a leftist activist with a focus on environmental issues.
He had long campaigned for the protection of rural areas and the city’s cultural heritage. He opposed the demolition of the Queen’s Pier in 2007 and was a stalwart of the opposition to the high speed rail project in 2009 and 2010.
Chu advocated for “democratic self-determination” in the city. He was successful in the primary in 2020.
Andrew Wan, jailed for 4 years and 8 months
Andrew Wan. Photo: Democratic Party.
Andrew Wan was elected to the LegCo in 2016, representing New Territories West. He had long been involved in the community, having first been elected to the Kwai Tsing District Council in 2003. He lost his district seat in the 2015 elections before winning again in the 2019 opposition landslide
Seen as a moderate democrat, Wan, who has a social work background, was a member of the Neighbourhood and Worker’s Service Centre before quitting to join the Democratic Party, where he was vice chairperson for two years.
Former government officials penned mitigation letters for Wan highlighting his decades-long history of public service and “peaceful” nature. A former labour chief described Wan as having a “strong passion” to help the underprivileged.
Kwok Ka-ki, jailed for 4 years and 2 months
Kwok Ka-ki. File Photo: Civic Party.
Kwok Ka-ki, a 63-year-old doctor affiliated with the now-disbanded Civic Party, was an elected lawmaker from 2012 to 2020. He was also a lawmaker representing the medical sector from 2004 to 2008.
Kwok was considered a centrist politician in the pro-democracy camp. He advocated for equal rights for mainland Chinese migrants to Hong Kong in terms of access to public hospitals, public housing, and social welfare.
Kwok joined the unofficial primary and secured a spot in the New Territories West constituency. He announced his departure from politics whilst in custody.
During mitigation, his lawyer said Kwok supported peaceful, rational, and non-violent politics and the subversion offence was out of character.
Alvin Yeung, jailed for 5 years and 1 month
Alvin Yeung. File Photo: Stanley Leung/HKFP.
Ex-lawmaker Alvin Yeung is a barrister and a former leader of the Civic Party, which disbanded in March after 18 years. The 43-year-old received his legal education at Peking University as well as at the University of Bristol in the UK.
He served in the Legislative Council from 2016 to 2020 as elected lawmaker in the New Territories East constituency but he and three other lawmakers were disqualified in November 2020 on grounds that they had opposed the national security law. The disqualifications triggered the mass resignation of other democrat lawmakers in protest.
In his mitigation plea, the ex-lawmaker wrote that it was “embarrassing” for a lawyer to admit a criminal offence and he had been “carried away” by the atmosphere at the time. The primaries were a “hopeless and wrongful scheme,” he said, adding that there was no chance of him re-offending as he had retired from politics.
Raymond Chan, jailed for 6 years and 6 months
Ex-lawmaker Raymond Chan arrives at Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Law Courts Building to hear his verdict in the 47 democrats case, on May 30, 2024. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.
Raymond Chan, 52, served in the legislature from 2012 until he resigned in September 2020. He was the first pan-democrat to indicate he would resign after the government postponed the legislative election, citing Covid-19 concerns.
In May 2021, around two months after he was charged in the 47 democrats case, Chan resigned as chairperson of People Power and quit the opposition group he had led since 2016.
As the first openly gay lawmaker in Hong Kong, Chan advocated for LGBTQ rights in the city, including the legalisation of same-sex marriage. The former radio host nicknamed “Slow Beat” married his partner in December 2021 while he was on bail in the subversion trial. The ceremony held in Hong Kong was officiated by a US lawyer via video call.
Chan, who pleaded not guilty, told the court during trial that he did not consider himself part of the “resistance camp.” The prosecution alleged that he had attended a coordination meeting at which he described People Power as “the most reliable source of resistance.”
Chan also said that he “certainly had no intention” of indiscriminately vetoing the budget if elected, or of asking others to do so. He told the court his signing of the Inked without Regret declaration did not mean he shared all of the other signatories’ views.
Lam Cheuk-ting, 47, was a corruption investigator-turned-politician who was elected lawmaker in 2016. He was a member of the Democratic Party.
Lam was prosecuted for obstructing legislative council officers when he and fellow pan-democrat lawmakers attempted to block a bill in 2018. He was sentenced to three weeks in jail in 2022.
On July 21, 2019, a key date during the protests, Lam was among dozens injured in an attack by a group of white-clad people in Yuen Long. He was later charged with rioting as prosecutors alleged that his presence had instigated the conflict.
Lam was also embroiled in separate legal proceedings when he was accused of exposing an ICAC probe into alleged police misconduct during the Yuen Long incident. He was acquitted on appeal but authorities were granted leave to take the case to the city’s Court of Final Appeal. A hearing is set in February next year.
He pleaded not guilty in the subversion case. The court heard during mitigation he was a “traditional democrat” and that his party had all along cooperated with the government.
Gary Fan, jailed for 4 years and 2 months
Gary Fan. Photo: LegCo.
Gary Fan, 58, co-founded the Neo-Democrats and served as a lawmaker for New Territories East from 2012 to 2016 and again in 2018. He was unseated in 2019 when his by-election was invalidated by the top court.
Fan announced he was quitting politics shortly after his arrest in the subversion case. His party disbanded afterwards.
Fan pioneered a localist ideology in the pro-democracy camp, forming “HK First” with Claudia Mo in 2013. The group opposed Hong Kong’s “mainlandisation” – referring to the perceived encroachment of the city by Beijing – and argued that reducing immigration from mainland China could solve social issues like high housing prices.
But he opposed the concept of Hong Kong independence and the use of radical means to achieve political gains, distancing himself from the more radical flank of the pro-democracy spectrum.
Fan’s lawyer told the court his client focused mostly on community affairs and people’s livelihood during his two decades as a district councillor and six as a lawmaker.
Leung Kwok-hung, jailed for 6 years and 9 months
Leung Kwok-hung protests outside China Liaison Office in Sai Ying Pun after Tiananmen vigil. File photo: Joshua Kwan/United Social Press.
A long-time activist, Leung Kwok-hung – better known as “Long Hair” – is an ex-lawmaker and the founder of the pro-democracy party League of Social Democrats. He served in the Legislative Council for 13 years, and was known for his confrontational and combative approach when questioning government officers. He was elected to a fourth Legislative Council term in 2016, but disqualified after authorities declared he had taken his loyalty oath improperly.
The 68-year-old also promoted labour rights and spoke out for marginalised groups such as low-income families and domestic workers
Leung has been arrested more than two dozen times for protest-related activities. These include several contempt of Legislative Council offences, such as snatching a top official’s document and chanting slogans during a meeting with government officers. He was also accused of offences including illegal assembly and disrupting public order at protests.
Leung has lodged several legal challenges against the government, the most high-profile of which saw him challenge the Correctional Services Department’s requirement of compulsory haircuts only for male prisoners. He filed the review after his iconic locks were cut short in 2014 while serving a jail sentence over a protest, and won. Following challenges from the government, the city’s top court eventually ruled in favour of Leung, deciding that requiring haircuts only for male inmates was sexual discrimination.
In his mitigation letter, which was not read out in court but shared on the League of Social Democrat’s Facebook page, Leung wrote: “Along the way for nearly 50 years, black hair has turned into white. Long hair has turned into short. A free man has become remanded. I still act with this faith in mind. Whether I am an ordinary citizen or a Legislative Councillor, I have always done my part to fight for democracy and social justice.”
