— Stand with Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung
For three decades, the Hong Kong Alliance commemorated the Tiananmen Massacre through peaceful and non-violent means, preserving historical memory, demanding accountability for a massacre, and advocating for democracy. It did so openly, consistently, and in full view of the world. Today, a Hong Kong court sentenced Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung to seven years, and seven years and three months, in prison respectively. We are deeply angered by these sentences and condemn them in the strongest possible terms.
This trial has laid bare that the defendants faced nothing less than a politically engineered prosecution, a deliberate act of state repression aimed at crushing civil society and silencing those who dare to call for democracy. The court convicted the defendants of incitement to subvert state power on nothing more than the Alliance’s call to “end one-party rule”, without a shred of evidence that they ever advocated or engaged in violence. This is not justice. It is the naked persecution of peaceful speech, treating peaceful advocacy for democracy as a threat to national security.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee has already warned that the National Security Law’s definition of national security is dangerously broad and vague, ripe for weaponisation as a tool of arbitrary repression, and incompatible with international human rights standards. The convictions and sentences in the Hong Kong Alliance case provide a stark illustration of those concerns.
Lee Cheuk-yan, former General Secretary of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, engaged in social and political activity on behalf of a trade union — advocating for democracy and freedom of expression, rights that are internationally recognised as fundamental to trade unionism itself. That these rights have now been openly trampled by the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities has implications far beyond Hong Kong itself, setting a deeply troubling precedent for authoritarian governments elsewhere seeking to suppress trade union organising.
We therefore call on the international community to act, and not to remain silent in the face of the Chinese Communist Party’s repression. We call for solidarity with those now facing long prison terms as a result of this unjust trial, and for efforts to secure their release.
We accordingly put the following firm demands to the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities:
- Immediately release Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung, who have been wrongfully convicted and sentenced;
- Repeal the National Security Law, which fails to meet international human rights standards, and end its abuse to suppress dissent and criminalise civil society activity;
- Restore the rights of Hong Kong people to freedom of association, freedom of expression, and the right to advocate for democracy.
Global trade union movement launches petition to free Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung
HK Labour Rights Monitor, together with the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Education International (EI), Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI), International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and LabourStart, has launched a global petition calling on the Hong Kong authorities to:
• Immediately release Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung
• Overturn their convictions
We call on trade unions, labour organisations, human rights groups and people around the world who stand with Hong Kong to sign the petition now and demand their release.
https://www.labourstartcampaigns.net/show_campaign.cgi?c=5871
Freedom of association is a human right, not a crime.
They are in prison for defending the truth.
But they have never been forgotten.