Hong Kong (AFP) - A Hong Kong court handed three Tiananmen vigil activists jail sentences of between five and seven years on Friday for national security crimes, drawing international condemnation.

Lee Cheuk-yan, 69, Albert Ho, 74, and Chow Hang-tung, 41, have been behind bars since they were charged in 2021. Their sentences are expected to include time already served.

The United Nations, rights groups and foreign governments have condemned the sentences, issued under a national security law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in 2020 following huge pro-democracy protests.

A court ruled in August that the activists had breached the Chinese constitution by calling for an “end to one-party dictatorship”.

Lee and Chow, who pleaded not guilty, were sentenced to seven years and seven years and three months, respectively, AFP journalists in court heard.

Ho, a former lawmaker who pleaded guilty in January, got five years and two months.

The verdict held that although the case did not involve violence and the defendants had not put forward a specific timetable to carry out an “end to one-party dictatorship”, their offence was still of “a serious nature”.

Chow, a barrister who represented herself, told a hearing last month that she had “nothing to repent for”.

She raised both arms and waved at supporters as she was escorted out by officers.

Supporters outside court hugged her mother, Medina Chow Lau Wah-chun, who said her daughter had maintained high spirits during the trial.

“She is not a competent barrister. She is simply an outstanding defendant,” her mother said.

Lee crossed himself, smiled and bowed at his wife Elizabeth Tang Yin-ngor and supporters, including high-profile activist Cardinal Joseph Zen, who gripped each other’s hands after leaving the courtroom.

“I’m really sad, and very angry,” Tang told reporters, saying Lee would “definitely appeal”.

Dozens of police swarmed around the court and set up cordons to hold back crowds.

- ‘Stern warning’ -

Hong Kong and Macau were the only places on Chinese soil that permitted public mourning for those killed on June 4, 1989, when Beijing sent troops and tanks to crush protests calling for political reform around the capital’s Tiananmen Square.

But public commemoration has been effectively banned in the cities in recent years.

The trio were leaders of the now-defunct Hong Kong Alliance, the group that organised annual vigils in the city’s Victoria Park.

City leader John Lee said in a statement that “the law will never allow anyone to use the pretext of human rights, democracy and freedom to blatantly harm their own country and compatriots”.

National security police chief Steve Li told reporters the sentences are “a stern warning to those who may be contemplating similar acts”.

Taiwan, which China sees as its own territory, condemned the sentences, while a European Union spokesperson said the ruling “undermines confidence in the rule of law and harms Hong Kong’s reputation”.

UN rights chief Volker Turk “calls for these sentences to be quashed”, his office said in a statement.

Elaine Pearson, Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said the “harsh sentences” expose “the cruelty and insecurity of a government afraid of memory and the people”.

Urania Chiu, a legal expert, told AFP that the heavy sentences are “not only (for) overt acts of activism or advocacy, but also acts of remembrance”.

The national security law “is actively shaping what is and is not allowed to remain part of the official history”, she said.

- ‘Pillar of Shame’ -

The Hong Kong Alliance group also operated a museum dedicated to the crackdown and held events, including a yearly washing of the “Pillar of Shame” – a statue to mourn victims.

The statue was removed from its long-time plinth at the University of Hong Kong in 2021, and other local universities followed suit with similar objects.

Prosecutors argued that evidence in the case, including the statue and archives from the Hong Kong Alliance’s museum, should be confiscated.

Judge Alex Lee said on Friday the fate of the statue would be decided after a decision was made on its ownership.

The Danish artist behind “Pillar of Shame”, Jens Galschiot, called the outcome of the trial and the statue’s potential confiscation “outrageous”.

The statue tells the story of Tiananmen, said Galschiot, who has for years sought to reclaim his work.

If destroyed, that would also “destroy the story that everybody should know”, he told AFP.