Taipei Times
Date: Dec 03, 2020.
By: Reuters, HONG KONG

Joshua Wong (黃之鋒), 24, one of Hong Kong’s most prominent democracy advocates, was jailed yesterday for more than 13 months over an unlawful anti-government rally last year, the toughest and most high-profile sentence for an opposition figure this year.

Wong’s sentence comes as critics say the Hong Kong government is intensifying a crackdown on the opposition and chipping away at wide-ranging freedoms guaranteed after the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997, a charge authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong reject.

Reacting to the court ruling, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs Dominic Raab urged Hong Kong and Beijing to stop their campaigns to stifle the opposition.

Wong had pleaded guilty to organizing and inciting an unlawful assembly near police headquarters during the height of the sometimes violent demonstrations in June last year. He faced a maximum of three years in jail.    [FULL  STORY]