Hong Kong lawyer gets 15-month sentence for Facebook 'incitement'

36-year-old found guilty of urging others to join banned Tiananmen vigil

20220104 Chow Hang-tung

Hong Kong lawyer and democracy activist Chow Hang-tung peers out of a prison van after being detained last September.  © Reuters

PAK YIU, Nikkei staff writer

HONG KONG -- A Hong Kong barrister was sentenced to 15 months in jail on Tuesday for using social media to incite people to attend a banned vigil remembering the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown.

Authorities last year, for the second time in a row, banned the city's annual June 4th memorial for the mainland Chinese student protesters who were killed in the violence. Police cited COVID-19 concerns, while critics argued it was part of a wider campaign to suppress memories of the event.

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