Hong Kong Court Imposes Maximum '40-Month Imprisonment' on Anti-Extradition Law Protest Participants

Hong Kong police entered the Hong Kong Polytechnic University filled with tear gas smoke on November 18, 2019, conducting a protest suppression operation. [Hong Kong AP=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Daehyun] In 2019, young people who protested against the Extradition Law (Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill) on the campus of Hong Kong Polytechnic University while surrounded by police were sentenced to prison.

According to the Hong Kong Sing Tao Daily on the 16th, the Hong Kong court sentenced seven male and female defendants who were tried for participating in the occupation protest at Hong Kong Polytechnic University in November 2019 to prison terms of 38 to 40 months. Two other defendants who were minors at the time, aged 18, were sent to correctional facilities.

The court stated that even if it was not certain that they were directly involved in violent acts, they were found guilty because they entered the occupation protest site and supported the illegal acts of others.

Since the summer of 2019, protests against the Extradition Law in Hong Kong had spread into a widespread anti-China democratization movement. In November of the same year, thousands of protesters who occupied the campus of Hong Kong Polytechnic University and the police surrounding them engaged in intense physical clashes.

During this process, about 1,300 protesters were arrested, and the defendants sentenced by the court this time were also arrested at the ages of 18 to 27.

In Hong Kong, anti-China sentiment rapidly increased following the protests against the Extradition Law, leading to widespread demands for full democratization, but China unilaterally imposed the National Security Law (Hong Kong Security Law) on Hong Kong, dismantling most of Hong Kong's democratic camp and civil society.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.