HONG KONG ACTIVIST, AMONG SECOND GROUP FREED FROM JAIL – Reflects on bittersweet release
Four people jailed in a landmark Hong Kong national security trial of “47 democrats” were freed today after more than four years behind bars.
They were the second group to be released in a month.
The group of 47 had been accused of conspiracy to commit subversion.
Among those freed on Friday was Jimmy Sham, a long-time activist who headed the Civil Human Rights Front. This major pro-democracy group spearheaded large-scale protests in 2019 before disbanding in 2021.
Speaking to the media outside his home in the Kowloon district of Jordan, Sham described his feelings as “complicated”. When asked if he considered himself a free man, he said he did not know.
“It feels like today is my first day of understanding the world again,” said Sham. “As for what I can do or should do in the future, or where the red line is, I feel like I need to explore and figure it out all over again.”
The others who were released were Kinda Li, Roy Tam and Henry Wong.
The 47 pro-democracy campaigners were arrested and charged in early 2021 with conspiracy to commit subversion under a Beijing-imposed national law, which carries sentences of up to life in prison. Forty-five of the defendants were convicted following a marathon trial and given sentences of as long as 10 years. Only two were acquitted.
The democrats were found guilty of organising an unofficial “primary election” in 2020 to select their candidates for a legislative election that was later postponed. Prosecutors accused the activists of plotting to paralyse the government by engaging in potentially disruptive acts had they been elected.
