Four more of the “47 democrats” jailed in the Hong Kong national security trial were released on Friday, ending over four years of incarceration.
The second group of pro-democracy activists to be released in a month, they were convicted of hatching a conspiracy to commit subversion by organising an unofficial primary election in July 2020. They were sentenced last November.
Jimmy Sham and fellow former district councillors Kinda Li, Roy Tam and Henry Wong left prison in the early hours of Friday in a seven-seater vehicle with curtains drawn. They went straight to their residences, Hong Kong Free Press reported.
Mr Sham led one of Hong Kong’s largest pro-democracy groups, the Civil Human Rights Front, which was disbanded in 2021.
The group had helped organise big marches during the pro-democracy protests of 2019 which grew violent at times and had a major impact on business and tourism.
“Let me spend some time with my family,” he said after reaching home in Kowloon. “I don’t know how to plan ahead because, to me, it feels like today is my first day of understanding the world again. So, as for what I can do or should do in the future or where is the red line, I feel like I need to explore and figure it out all over again.”
The pro-democracy activists were found guilty of organising an unofficial “primary election” in 2020 to pick candidates for a legislative election that was later postponed. The prosecutors said the activists were plotting to paralyse the government by engaging in potentially disruptive acts once elected.
Their trial under the national security law was denounced as “politically motivated” by the US and its allies who demanded their release.
Beijing and Hong Kong rejected the allegations saying everyone was equal under the law and these activists had received a fair trial.
In late April, Hong Kong had released former lawmakers Claudia Mo, Kwok Ka-Ki, Jeremy Tam, and Gary Fan from prison.
China has cracked down heavily on opposition groups in Hong Kong since the 2019 protests and also targeted the liberal civil society and media outlets under sweeping and contentious national security laws imposed in 2020.
Of the “47 democrats” arrested in the wake of the 2019 protests, 45 were convicted following a marathon trial and given sentences as long as 10 years. Two were acquitted.
