On November 19, 2024, sentencing was delivered in the “Hong Kong’s 47 Pro-Democracy Figures Case”, with defendants like Benny Tai receiving prison terms ranging from 4 to 10 years. On November 23, Chinese democracy activist Zhou Feng staged a demonstration in front of the Chinese Embassy in Iceland, expressing support for the 47 pro-democracy figures from Hong Kong and chanting slogans like “Free Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times!”
The “Hong Kong’s 47 Pro-Democracy Figures Case” involved participants in the 2020 Hong Kong Legislative Council primary election being charged with offenses related to the “subversion of state power” under the Hong Kong National Security Law and allegations of “incitement to subvert state power”.
Since the enactment of the National Security Law in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on July 1, 2020, this has been the largest arrest operation conducted by the police, leading to the detention of 53 individuals, out of which 47 were charged with offenses related to “incitement to subversion of state power” or “subversion of state power”, garnering attention from both local and international media.
The verdict was delivered on November 19, 2024, with Benny Tai receiving the longest sentence of 10 years, while the other 44 defendants received prison terms ranging from 4 to 7 years. Defendants Li Yu-hin and Lau Wai-chung were acquitted of the charges.
Zhou Feng, speaking to a reporter, stated, “In order to support the 47 individuals from Hong Kong who are persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party, and also in commemoration of the two-year anniversary of the White Paper Movement, our gathering today is not just to reflect on past sufferings, but also to remind ourselves and the world that the atrocities of dictatorship and oppression have never been far from our lives.”
The authoritarian force of the Chinese Communist Party continues to exert fear and violence on the Chinese people and society in various forms to consolidate its dictatorial rule. Their agenda extends beyond mainland China to Hong Kong, once known as the pearl of the East for its freedom. Since 1997, the Chinese Communist Party has employed various means to suppress democratic forces in Hong Kong in an attempt to destroy the freedom and hope of the region.
Zhou Feng remarked, “The famous writer Ernest Hemingway once said, ‘Do not ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee’. Especially after the implementation of the National Security Law by the Chinese Communist Party in 2020, the fangs of dictatorship are no longer concealed, revealing their ugliest nature. As the anti-extradition protests in Hong Kong started in the summer of 2019, many indifferent and numb Chinese people may have never imagined that the evil of dictatorship would cruelly retaliate against themselves in the form of pandemic lockdowns. Three years later, the madness of the ‘zero-COVID’ policy has brought about a tragic toll, revealing the root cause of all this to be the unbridled power of dictatorship.”
“These 47 martyrs once fought for democracy and freedom in Hong Kong. Now, their freedom has been stripped, their voices silenced, but we cannot stay silent. We call on the world not to forget the painful lessons brought by pandemic lockdowns, not to forget the brutality and arrogance of dictatorial power. We must let more people know that in this world, there are still those willing to speak out for justice and freedom, those willing to resist tyranny to the end.”
He emphasized, “We stand here to speak for the oppressed, to voice the souls that still hold firm to their beliefs in the darkness. Let us show the world through actions that we will not submit to tyranny, that we will fight for the freedom of Hong Kong, and we will fight for the future of China.”
In conclusion, he shouted, “Free Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times!”