Edward Leung's Appeal Against Prison Term Dismissed

The Court of Appeal on Wednesday dismissed an appeal lodged by prominent localist Edward Leung, who filed a plea against the six-year prison term he is serving over rioting charges.

Leung was sentenced for taking part in the Mong Kok riots during the Lunar New Year holiday in 2016.

The Court of Appeal said it considered the sentence was not manifestly excessive, "given the circumstances surrounding the riot at Argyle Street, including the fact that for no reason, and when there was no confrontation, the assembled crowd attacked police officers with no anti-riot gear from behind and also the severity of the violence used”.

The localist group Leung belongs to, Hong Kong Indigenous, mobilised people to flood to the area on the evening of 8 February, 2016, in support of unlicensed hawkers in Mong Kok.

A clearance operation of the hawkers by staff from the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department then descended into clashes between protesters and police.

The court noted that Leung’s personal beliefs are not a mitigating factor even if his motive was to protect local traditions and culture. It said this could not lessen his culpability for rioting.

The court also dismissed the appeal lodged by another man in the case, Wong Ka-kui, to overturn his three and a half year prison term, and the appeal by Lo Kin-man against his rioting conviction and seven-year jail term.