First Hong Kong Democrats imprisoned in a significant National Security trial have been released after four years in custody

Four pro-democracy figures from Hong Kong have been released following more than four years of imprisonment after a significant national security trial.

On Tuesday, the initial group of individuals imprisoned in Hong Kong’s significant national security trial concerning 47 pro-democracy activists was released, after spending over four years in custody.

Among those released were former lawmakers Claudia Mo, Kwok Ka-ki, Jeremy Tam, and Gary Fan, who were escorted from three different prisons throughout the city at dawn. Security was stringent at the sites, featuring a significant police presence and limited access to the roads approaching the prison facilities.

A Reuters reporter positioned outside Stanley Prison, where Kwok and Tam were detained, received information from a police officer that the two had already left. Vehicles were observed leaving Shek Pik Prison on Lantau Island and the Lo Wu Correctional Institution close to the border with mainland China.

Media were restricted from approaching Shek Pik Prison, with police cordoning off two adjacent roads, thereby confining observation to a bridge that overlooks the ocean-facing location.

Upon returning home, Gary Fan expressed to journalists, “I will go back home and reunite with family.” Thank you, people of Hong Kong.

According to her husband, Philip Bowring, local media reported that Claudia Mo appeared calm when she arrived home and required some time to rest.

The release comes after extensive crackdowns enacted by China in reaction to the pro-democracy protests that captivated Hong Kong for months in 2019. Under Beijing’s national security law, there has been a growing pressure on liberal civil society, political dissent, and independent media.

In early 2021, 47 activists faced arrest and were charged with conspiracy to commit subversion, a serious offense that could lead to life imprisonment under the legislation imposed by Beijing.

After an extended trial, 45 of the defendants were found guilty and received sentences of up to 10 years. Just two were found not guilty.

Mo, Kwok, Tam, and Fan were denied bail after being charged and remained in custody for almost two years prior to the trial that commenced in early 2023. After entering a guilty plea, they were each sentenced to four years and two months.

Each of the four individuals had a political background rooted in Hong Kong’s former pro-democracy movement. Mo, Kwok, and Tam had previously been members of the Civic Party. The party, previously a prominent opposition force, dissolved in early 2024 as the crackdown intensified. In 2016, Mo stepped down from the party and, alongside Gary Fan of the Neo Democrats, co-founded the localist group HK First.

The activists were convicted of orchestrating an unofficial “primary election” in 2020 to select candidates for the city’s legislative council. Prosecutors asserted that the plan was a calculated effort to incapacitate government functions if elected.

Western nations, including the United States, denounced the trial as politically driven and urged for the activists’ release.

Hong Kong and Beijing, on the other hand, upheld the proceedings, claiming that the national security law is applied uniformly to everyone and that the democrats received a fair trial.