Defendant Lawrence Lau Wai-chung (C) arrives to the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court in Hong Kong, China, on Monday, February 23, 2026. The court rules today on the appeals of 12 activists and politicians convicted under the national security law for participating in a 2020 primary election. Also, Lau will hear about the government of Hong Kong’s appeal of his acquittal. Photo by Leung Man Hei/EPA
Feb. 23 (UPI) — A Hong Kong court has rejected the appeals of 12 pro-democracy lawmakers and activists seeking to overturn their convictions in connection with a 2020 unofficial election primary that Beijing-aligned officials said was intended to undermine the city’s existing political system.
The dozen people are members of the so-called Hong Kong 47, who were sentenced in November 2024 to between 51 and 120 months in what is still the largest case so far brought under the city’s draconian National Security Law.
Eleven of the activists were convicted during the trial, while one pleaded guilty.
The court on Monday rejected their appeals. For some, they have already served their sentences and been released from prison.
Lawrence Lau Wai-chung, a barrister and democracy activist, had been acquitted in the case, but the government had appealed the decision. The court on Monday upheld that decision.
The defendants were charged with conspiracy to commit subversion under the National Security Law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in connection with their unofficial primary.
Held in July 2020 amid the fraying of democratic norms in Hong Kong, the activists used the primary to coordinate candidates and win a pro-democracy majority in the city’s legislature, which prosecutors said they planned to use to veto budget bills to force the resignation of Hong Kong’s chief executive.
The primary was held following protests that erupted in Hong Kong in 2019 against extradition that grew into a broader pro-democracy movement following allegations of excessive force used by police against the protesters.
In response to the protests, China imposed a new national security law on Hong Kong in July 2020, and police arrested dozens of pro-democracy figures on Jan. 6, 2021, with 47 charged with conspiracy to commit subversion in late February of that year.
The government accused them of seeking to use the legislature, under the guise of democracy, to threaten Hong Kong’s political system.
Their convictions were widely condemned by democratic nations, including Britain, Canada and the United States. Washington vowed to impose visa restrictions on officials responsible for their sentencing.