Family members distressed as Hong Kong jails 45 democracy activists in landmark trial

Emotions ran high for family members of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy activists as the city’s High Court on Tuesday (November 19) sentenced 45 of the activists to jail terms of up to 10 years in a landmark national security trial. Hendrick Lui was sentenced to more than four years in jail. After the sentencing, his adoptive mother Elsa Wu shouted, "He's a good person… he’s not a political prisoner… why does he have to go to jail?" She was then taken away in a police van. Benny Tai, a former legal scholar identified as an "organizer" of the activists, received a 10-year jail sentence, the longest so far under the 2020 national security law. A total of 47 pro-democracy activists were arrested and charged in 2021 with conspiracy to commit subversion under a Beijing-imposed national security law, facing potential life sentences. Speaking outside the court building, Roxie Houge, the head of the U.S. consulate in Hong Kong's political section, said the U.S. government condemned "the continuous prosecution of individuals here in Hong Kong who are expressing their political views ... exercising their freedom of speech." (Production: Joyce Zhou, Edmond Ng, James Pomfret)