Hong Kong student jailed for 8 weeks for role in illegal protest in 2020
- Isaac Lee, 20, is sentenced to jail instead correctional training to allow him to return to the UK for studies when semester begins
A Hong Kong student rearrested by police after returning from Britain has been jailed for eight weeks for joining an illegal protest advocating the city’s independence and resistance against the Beijing-imposed national security law four years ago.
Kwun Tong Court on Monday sentenced Isaac Lee, 20, on a charge of unlawful assembly arising from the protest at the APM shopping centre in the evening of June 30, 2020.
The court was initially advised to sentence Lee to undergo correctional training at a rehabilitation centre for three to nine months, but Magistrate Edward Wong Ching-yu agreed to impose a jail term instead to allow the student to continue his study at a British university when the new semester begins next month.
Lee, who pleaded guilty last month, joined more than 100 protesters at the shopping centre in Kwun Tong to chant anti-government slogans and drum up support for mass demonstrations on July 1, the anniversary of the city’s return to Chinese rule in 1997.
The student was among a few participants holding banners and flags that called for Hong Kong’s independence.
The protest took place just hours before the national security law, which criminalises the promotion of the city’s separation from China, came into force at 11pm on June 30.
Lee was arrested after ignoring police warnings to disperse, but was granted unconditional release after officers decided not to charge him at the first instance.