Mediaboss Marketing

After the sentences were announced, Mr. Wong posted a series of defiant messages on Twitter saying that he would not give up his fight for democracy. All three were taken into custody immediately.

They all intend to appeal their sentences, according to Lester Shum, a fellow protest leader, who read a statement outside the court.

In a statement issued Thursday night, the Hong Kong Department of Justice defended its appeal for tougher sentencing as its legal right, adding that the three protest leaders were convicted not because they exercised their civil liberties, but because their conduct during the protest contravened the law.

Suzanne Pepper, a Hong Kong-based scholar of Chinese politics, said the new sentences were part of a larger pushback by Beijing against Hong Kongs democracy movement.

Its a two-part strategy aimed at targeting the leaders, making an example of them, showing the cost for all who might want to follow in their footsteps and offering rewards to all who settle down, she said in an email. Sort of a combined carrots-and-sticks strategy, plus killing the chicken to frighten the monkeys.

Mr. Wong and Mr. Chow were found guilty last year of unlawful assembly, while Mr. Law was found guilty of inciting people to take part in the assembly. The charges stemmed from the storming of a fenced government square in 2014 to protest Beijings strict limits on proposed reforms to the way Hong Kong elects its top leader, or chief executive.

The protests and the police response cascaded into weeks of sit-ins, later known as the Umbrella Movement, that paralyzed several major streets across Hong Kong but failed to win the protesters any political concessions.

The former British colony returned to Chinese rule 20 years ago under a one country, two systems governing principle that promised a high degree of autonomy. Yet the publics trust in the political firewall has eroded as the Chinese authorities appear ever more assertive in exercising their will in the city.

Last year, the Chinese government moved to unseat two dissident lawmakers elected in Hong Kongs only citywide direct elections, ostensibly because they deviated from the official text when taking the oath of office. Last month, four more opposition lawmakers were removed from the citys 70-member Legislative Council, including Mr. Law, who was elected last year as the citys youngest-ever legislator.

A lower court had previously avoided deterrent punishment for Mr. Wong, Mr. Law and Mr. Chow, citing their genuine wish to express their political ideals and concerns for society. But prosecutors argued that lenient sentences would send the wrong message as they pursued legal action against even more participants and leaders of the largely peaceful protests.

In 2014, Joshua Wong was at the forefront of a student movement for democracy in Hong Kong.

The three judges at the appeals court were in agreement that tougher sentences were warranted in order to deter unlawful protests.

The freedom of assembly is never absolute, Wally Yeung, a vice president of the Court of Appeal, wrote in the judgment, adding that the court must uphold the importance of public order even though sentencing ambitious, idealistic young people to immediate imprisonment was not a judgment he made readily.

The Hong Kong police arrested more than 900 people during the demonstrations in 2014, when thousands of protesters shut down streets in several major business districts for almost three months. The government has brought charges against fewer than one-tenth of them, and those found guilty have been mostly sentenced to probation or community service.

The sentencing of the three protest leaders capped an emotional week for the citys embattled democracy activists, with one Democratic Party member being accused on Tuesday of falsifying an account of abduction and torture by Chinese agents.

On the same day, prison sentences of eight to 13 months were handed down to more than a dozen people who had stormed the Legislative Council building in June 2014 in opposition to a government development plan.

Those protesters included members of the Demosisto party formed by Mr. Law and Mr. Wong last year. At a news conference on Tuesday, Mr. Law broke down in tears while expressing his support for them.

On Wednesday, the night before the sentencing, others wept for Mr. Law, as he and Mr. Wong addressed hundreds of supporters gathered outside the square where they protested in 2014.

Do not give up on Hong Kong. We can still win, said Mr. Wong, wearing the same T-shirt he did nearly three years ago when he, then 17, climbed over a fence into the square. I dont know what will happen in the next six to 12 months, but I hope in 2018, when we are freed, well see a Hong Kong with hope.

Follow Alan Wong on Twitter @alanwongw.

A version of this article appears in print on August 18, 2017, on Page A7 of the New York edition with the headline: Three Young Democracy Advocates in Hong Kong Are Sentenced to Prison.

Original post:
Joshua Wong and 2 Others Jailed in Hong Kong Over Pro-Democracy Protest - New York Times