HONG KONG ¨C Hong Kong¡¯s Court of Appeal rejected an appeal by 12 pro-democracy activists and upheld their jail terms on Monday in a national security case that critics say highlights the China-ruled city¡¯s crackdown on dissent.
The appeal stems from the ¡°Hong Kong 47¡± case, where many leading pro-democracy activists and ?politicians were arrested en masse in early 2021 and charged with conspiracy to commit subversion. Following marathon legal proceedings, most of ?the democrats were ?eventually sentenced in late 2024 to between 4 and 10 years¡¯ imprisonment, with two others ?acquitted.
Rights groups and some countries, including the U.S. and Britain, condemned the case as persecution of Hong Kong¡¯s political opposition and called for the immediate release of all those arrested.
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