Politician and democracy activist Lee Cheuk-yan. Photo:EPA
Embassy appeal rejected. Secretary of state calls for activists to be released
The World Daily | News Desk JANUARY 1st 2021
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called on the Chinese authorities to immediately release ten Hong Kong activists. They were sentenced in Shenzhen to terms ranging from seven months to three years in prison.
“The US strongly condemns the Shenzhen court proceedings and calls for the unconditional and immediate release of ten members of the group who have been sentenced to prison terms,” said Mike Pompeo in a statement on Thursday.
A Shenzhen court on Wednesday convicted 10 Hong Kong activists for illegal border crossing. They were detained in August while trying to escape to Taiwan by speedboat. All of them faced charges related to the pro-democracy protests of 2019, which regularly turned into clashes with the police. According to Chinese authorities, the accused pleaded guilty. Foreign journalists and diplomats were not admitted to the hearing in Shenzhen.
“Hong Kong was a thriving territory until the Chinese Communist Party and its local supporters destroyed its rule of law and deprived people of liberty,” Pompeo added. “A regime that prevents its own people from leaving can lay no claim to greatness or global leadership. It is simply a fragile dictatorship, afraid of its own people,” stressed the secretary of state, quoted by Reuters.
Among the 12 detained in the motorboat, there were also two minors who -according to the Reuters news agency- admitted to crossing the border illegally, but the charges were not brought against them.
