Hong Kong 47: 11 jailed democrats granted permission to appeal to top court

Eleven pro-democracy figures jailed in the landmark “Hong Kong 47” national security case have won permission to appeal to the city’s top court.

High Court. File photo: GovHK.

The Court of Appeal on Monday issued a certificate for the activists, who were jailed in the city’s largest national security case for conspiracy to commit subversion, to take their case to the Court of Final Appeal.

The three appellate judges, led by Chief Judge of the High Court Jeremy Poon, were convinced the activists’ appeals “merit the consideration by the Court of Final Appeal, in particular when it is the first occasion they are to be determined by our apex court.”

Eleven pro-democracy figures jailed in the landmark “Hong Kong 47” national security case win permission to appeal to the city’s top court. Graphic: HKFP.

Monday’s decision stemmed from the Hong Kong 47 case, in which 45 defendants were convicted of conspiracy to commit subversion under a Beijing-imposed national security law in May 2024. Two were acquitted.

The defendants feature some of Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy activists, namely Clarisse Yeung, Helena Wong, Owen Chow, Winnie Yu, Gwyneth Ho, Lam Cheuk-ting, Gordon Ng, Cheng Tat-hung, Kalvin Ho, Raymond Chan, and Leung Kwok-hung.

They were arrested and charged in 2021 over an unofficial primary held in 2020, which aimed to increase the pro-democracy camp’s chance at winning a legislative majority, enabling them to threaten a veto of government budgets for political demands like universal suffrage.

The judges ruled that, if their scheme succeeded, it would have resulted in a “constitutional crisis.”

They were sentenced to jail terms ranging from six years and six months to seven years and nine months.

Twelve defendants lodged appeals against their conviction or jail term – or both – but the Court of Appeal rejected their bids in February. The appellate court also rejected the government’s bid to challenge the acquittal of lawyer Lawrence Lau.

‘Great and general importance’

On Monday, the judges said five issues were “of great and general importance,” including the meaning of “unlawful means” under a Beijing-imposed national security law and whether the court should not intervene in matters of the Legislative Council (LegCo).

The issues “touch upon the elements of a [subversion] offence… and the duties of LegCo members in performing their constitutional functions, especially in connection with the examination of budgets and the invocation of the mechanism in [Basic Law] 50 – 52,” the judges wrote.

Article 50 to 52 of the Basic Law, Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, stipulate a mechanism under which the chief executive has to resign if LegCo refuses to pass a budget or any other “important bill” twice.

Jeremy Poon. Photo: Judiciary

Sitting in the dock on Monday, the 11 smiled and waved to supporters in the public gallery.

Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution in June 2020 following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest. It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts – broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure. The move gave police sweeping new powers and led to hundreds of arrests amid new legal precedents, while dozens of civil society groups disappeared. The authorities say it restored stability and peace to the city, rejecting criticism from trade partners, the UN and NGOs.