{"id":430406,"date":"2021-04-16T14:35:15","date_gmt":"2021-04-16T18:35:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=430406"},"modified":"2021-04-16T14:35:28","modified_gmt":"2021-04-16T18:35:28","slug":"hong-kong-pro-democracy-activists-sentenced-to-prison-as-beijing-cracks-down-on-protests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/hong-kong-pro-democracy-activists-sentenced-to-prison-as-beijing-cracks-down-on-protests\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Activists Sentenced To Prison As Beijing Cracks Down On Protests"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">26<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhong-kong-pro-democracy-activists-sentenced-to-prison-as-beijing-cracks-down-on-protests%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=430406&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>A Hong Kong court sentenced five top pro-democracy advocates to up to 18 months in prison Friday for orchestrating an enormous anti-government protest in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>Among those sentenced was Jimmy Lai, a media tycoon who has been an outspoken critic of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and its encroachment on Hong Kong\u2019s autonomy, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/beijing-democracy-hong-kong-jimmy-lai-china-c5163782a93a56bdd3dc512808cdf089\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Associated Press<\/a>. The 2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2019\/06\/12\/hong-kong-protest-extradition\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">protest<\/a> was estimated to consist of 1.7 million people, who marched in opposition to a <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2020\/05\/21\/china-proposes-law-to-limit-opposition-activity-in-hong-kong\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">bill<\/a> that would have allowed suspects to be <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2019\/09\/04\/hong-kong-extradition-bill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">extradited to mainland China<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The protest triggered a <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2019\/08\/14\/senators-warn-china-hong-kong\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">massive crackdown<\/a> by Beijing, which has stemmed into 2021 and <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2020\/05\/28\/hong-kong-autonomy-china-national-security\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">jeopardized<\/a> the former British colony\u2019s autonomy. The CCP in March approved a <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/03\/30\/china-hong-kong-antony-blinken-mike-pompeo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">sweeping change<\/a> to the city\u2019s election law that ensured only \u201cpatriots\u201d loyal to Beijing would be elected.<\/p>\n<p>The sentences delivered Friday after <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/04\/01\/jimmy-lai-hong-kong-activists-convicted-for-pro-democracy-protests\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">convictions<\/a> were announced on April 1, and were met with widespread international criticism. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2020\/08\/16\/nyt-washington-post-press-freedom-groups-condemn-arrest-hong-kong-jimmy-lai-others-silent\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: Media Outlets Condemn Jimmy Lai\u2019s Arrest)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_7172393\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\" readability=\"34\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-7172393\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A pro-democracy activist holds up a placard as police stand guard outside the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong on February 1, 2021. (ANTHONY WALLACE\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Lai, the founder of the tabloid Hong Kong\u2019s Apple Daily, was sentenced to 14 months in prison for organizing the marches in 2019, according to the AP. He was also <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2020\/12\/11\/pro-democracy-activist-media-tycoon-jimmy-lai-reportedly-charged-under-hong-kongs-national-security-law\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">charged<\/a> with conspiring to collude with foreign powers and helping local activists escape the city under Hong Kong\u2019s new Beijing-backed national security law.&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2020\/08\/10\/hong-kong-police-apple-daily-jimmy-lai-democracy-china-security-law\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>(RELATED: Jimmy Lai Arrested After Hong Kong Police Raid His Newspaper)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Lee Cheuk-yan, another pro-democracy activist, was also sentenced to 14 months in prison for his role in the two 2019 marches, according to the AP. Two former pro-democracy lawmakers received sentences of 8 and 18 months, while another lawmaker who originally pleaded guilty received a sentence of 10 months.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m ready to face the penalty and sentencing and I\u2019m proud that I can walk with the people of Hong Kong for this democracy,\u201d Lee Cheuk-yan said before his sentencing, according to the AP. \u201cWe will walk together even in darkness, we will walk with hope in our hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>China has also faced international criticism over its increased <a href=\"https:\/\/dailycaller.com\/2021\/04\/07\/america-military-china-taiwan-invasion-joseph-wu-philip-davidson\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">aggressiveness<\/a> toward Taiwan and in the South China Sea as well as its forcible relocation of as many as one million Muslim Uighurs into <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">concentration camps<\/a> in its western Xinjiang region.<\/p>\n<p>Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact <a href=\"mailto:licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org\">licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A Hong Kong court sentenced five top pro-democracy advocates to up to 18 months in prison Friday for orchestrating an enormous anti-government protest in 2019.Among those sentenced was Jimmy Lai, &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2276109,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-430406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430406"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430406\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2276109"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}