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Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam defends controversial decision to seek jail terms for Occupy trio
Chief executive says top court endorsed strict sentencing guidelines for illegal protests put forward by appeal court despite quashing activists’ prison sentences
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Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor on Wednesday defended the government’s contentious decision to ask for jail terms for three Occupy student activists a day after the city’s top court set them free.
Lam urged the lawmakers who challenged the government’s decision to carefully study the landmark judgment handed down by the Court of Final Appeal, which she said had endorsed the strict sentencing guidelines for illegal protests that were put forward by the Court of Appeal despite quashing the activists’ jail terms.
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The lower court had jailed the trio – Joshua Wong Chi-fung, Nathan Law Kwun-chung and Alex Chow Yong-kang – for six to eight months last August for their role in the run-up to the Occupy movement after the government complained that their initial non-custodial sentences were too lenient.
Appeal ruling for Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong could have ‘chilling effect’ on social activism
The chief executive’s stern retort was in response to questions raised by Democratic Party lawmaker Ted Hui Chi-fung during her 30-minute question time in the Legislative Council.
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