Hong Kong court to deliver verdict for 2 prominent former Tiananmen vigil organizers

Two former leaders of Hong Kong’s annual Tiananmen Square remembrance vigils were convicted on Friday of inciting others to overthrow China’s communist leadership. Lee Cheuk-yan and Chow Hang-tung were found guilty under a national security law that has crippled the city’s pro-democracy movement. The alliance they led was also found liable.

The judges ruled that the alliance’s call for ending one-party dictatorship was an unlawful attempt to undermine the Communist Party’s leadership. The defendants will be sentenced at a later date. Their conviction reflects the decline of freedom of expression in Hong Kong, observers say.