NINE veteran Hong Kong activists face jail after they were convicted today on unlawful assembly charges for their role in organising one of the biggest democracy protests to engulf the city in 2019.

The defendants include some of the city’s most prominent pro-democracy campaigners, many of whom are non-violence advocates who have spent decades campaigning in vain for universal suffrage.

They are the latest group of democracy figures to be prosecuted as China oversees a sweeping crackdown on dissent in the restless financial hub.

Among them are Martin Lee, an 82-year-old barrister who was once chosen by Beijing to help write Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, and Margaret Ng, a 73-year-old barrister and former opposition lawmaker.

Media tycoon Jimmy Lai, currently in custody after his arrest under Beijing’s new national security law, was among those convicted.

Leung Kwok-hung, an opposition politician known by his sobriquet “Longhair” who has also been detained on national security charges, was also sent down.

Others are leading members of the Civil Human Rights Front, the coalition that organised a series of huge rallies throughout 2019.

Seven were found guilty by Hong Kong District Court today of organising and knowingly participating in an unauthorised assembly. 

Two others had previously pleaded guilty. They face up to five years in jail.

The group was prosecuted for organising an unauthorised assembly on Aug 18, 2019 – one of the biggest in Hong Kong that year as people took to the streets for seven straight months calling for democracy and greater police accountability.

Organisers claimed 1.7 million people turned out – almost one in four Hong Kong residents – though that number was difficult to independently verify. – AFP, April 1, 2021.