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Hong Kong democracy activists appeal jail terms

Hong Kong’s leading democracy activists were in court today to appeal against their jail terms in a case seen as…

Hong Kong democracy activists appeal jail terms

Representational Image (Photo: Getty Images)

Hong Kong’s leading democracy activists were in court today to appeal against their jail terms in a case seen as a litmus test for the independence of the city’s judiciary, which some fear is under pressure from Beijing.

Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow were jailed in August last year for their role in the 2014 Umbrella Movement mass pro-democracy protests after Hong Kong’s government pushed for harsher sentences.

A lower court had originally given Wong and Law community service orders and Chow a suspended sentence. But after the government’s intervention, they were jailed for between six and eight months by the Court of Appeal.

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All three activists were later released on bail pending their appeal.

The government’s move was seen as further evidence of Beijing’s growing influence over the semi-autonomous city, with Chinese authorities particularly riled by the emergence of activists calling for independence for Hong Kong.

Wong and Law’s political party Demosisto wants self- determination for the city.

“Now is the chance for us to be aware how the courts of Hong Kong will recognise, will position, the motivation of civil disobedience,” Wong, 21, told reporters ahead of the hearing at the city’s court of final appeal.

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