Hong Kong court affirms landmark sedition conviction for pro-democracy activist

By KANIS LEUNG
Associated Press

HONG KONG (AP) — A Hong Kong court says criticizing laws or chanting anti-government slogans can be enough to jail someone for sedition. Thursday’s ruling came in a landmark case brought under a colonial-era law increasingly used to crush dissent. Hong Kong’s Court of Appeal upheld a 40-month sentence for pro-democracy activist Tam Tak-chi, the first person tried under the city’s sedition law since Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997. Tam’s lawyers had argued his conviction should be overturned because the prosecution did not show he meant to incite violence. The prosecution is widely seen as part of Beijing’s clampdown on dissent in the former British colony, and Thursday’s ruling is expected to guide other sedition cases.