Japan Voices 'grave Concerns' Over HK Jailings

Japan has "grave concerns" about the jailing of Hong Kong activists Joshua Wong, Agnes Chow and Ivan Lam and has conveyed its worries to Beijing over the situation, chief government spokesman Katsunobu Kato said on Thursday.

West Kowloon Magistracy on Wednesday sentenced Wong to more than 13 months in prison over an unlawful anti-government rally outside police headquarters in 2019, the toughest sentence for an opposition figure in the SAR this year.

Chow and Lam were jailed for 10 and seven months, respectively. Chow speaks fluent Japanese and is well-known in Japan.

"Japan increasingly has grave concerns about the recent Hong Kong situation such as sentences against the three including Agnes Chow," Kato told a regular news conference.

"We have conveyed our concerns to China about Hong Kong at various opportunities," he said.

Meanwhile, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has condemned the jail sentences.

"China's brutal sentencing of these young champions of democracy in Hong Kong is appalling," Pelosi said in a statement.

"We call on all freedom-loving people around the world to join us in denouncing this unjust sentencing and China's widespread assault on Hongkongers," she added. (Reuters)