Activist, along with three others, jailed for participation in illegal assembly

Hong Kong's District Court on Thursday sentenced activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung to 10 months in jail for participating in an illegal assembly in June 2020.

The court sentenced three other activists, Lester Shum, Tiffany Yuen Ka-wai and Jannelle Rosalynne Leung, who took part in the same assembly, to six months, four months and four months respectively.

Judge Stanley Chan Kwong-chi determined that the defendants had ignored from the very beginning that the meeting was unlawful under the police's objection issued on June 1, as well as the enormous risk of the assembly to descend into violence.

Chan further noted that the assembly on June 4, 2020, which had drawn more than 20,000 people, had disrupted traffic and caused massive public disorder. This was opposite to what the defendants called "minimal" public inconvenience.

The police objected to the assembly due to concerns over public health and the need to maintain social distance during the pandemic.

In addition, Chan noted that Wong's repeated offenses to participate in unauthorized assemblies showed that the previous rulings did not serve as a deterrent.

Wong was sentenced in April to four months behind bars for his role in an illegal assembly on Oct 5, 2019, and faced a charge of using masked objects in that assembly. He has also received a 13.5-month jail term last year for inciting, organizing and knowingly joining in an illegal assembly on June 21, 2019.

Wong's 10-month sentence, which he received on Thursday, will be served separately from those previously handed down.

Last Friday, the defendants pleaded guilty to knowingly participating in an unauthorized assembly.

Twenty-six opposition figures were involved. Two of them, Nathan Law Kwun-chung and Sunny Cheung Kwan-yang, have fled Hong Kong.

Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying is among the remaining 20 defendants who will attend a hearing scheduled for June 11. Lai was jailed last month for knowingly organizing and taking part in two illegal assemblies in August 2019.

Wong, Shum and Yuen are also awaiting trials on charges of subversion under the national security law for their roles in a so-called primary election for the Legislative Council in July 2020.