Five Of Nine Activists Jailed For Up To 18 Months

Five of the most well known pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong were jailed for up to 18 months on Friday and four were given suspended sentences, for their involvement in one of the largest 2019 protests over the government's widely despised extradition bill.

Media tycoon Jimmy Lai and former lawmakers Martin Lee, Margaret Ng, Cyd Ho, Albert Ho, Lee Cheuk-yan and Leung Kwok-hung were earlier found guilty of organising and taking part in an unauthorised assembly, while Au Nok-hin and Leung Yiu-chung had pleaded guilty.

Leung Kwok-hung received the longest prison term at 18 months, while Lai and Lee Cheuk-yan were jailed for a year.

Au received a 10-month prison term, and Cyd Ho eight months.

Martin Lee, Ng, Albert Ho and Leung Yiu-chung received suspended prison terms.

Hundreds of thousands of Hong Kong people demonstrated peacefully on Hong Kong Island on August 18, 2019, including at a police sanctioned rally at Victoria Park.

But the massive crowd later braved torrential rain to march to Central, without the force's permission.

Judge Amanda Woodcock dismissed claims from the activists who denied the charges that they had only taken part in the procession to help disperse the crowd afterwards.

The unauthorised march had been planned, she said, and some of the defendants were right at the front of it, carrying a huge banner.

As he went into court on Friday morning, Martin Lee, who helped found the Democratic Party, said he felt completely relaxed. "I'm ready to face my sentence," he told reporters.

Representing herself for the mitigation plea before sentencing, Ng told the court that she had felt obliged to stand with the "peace-loving" people of Hong Kong in their time of anguish.

Six of the democracy campaigners had been on bail before sentencing, but Lai, Leung Kwok-hung and Au were already in custody in relation to other cases.