Hong Kong protester given 9-year term in 1st security case
By Associated Press
Jul 30, 2021 2:22 AM CDT
Hong Kong protester given 9-year term in 1st security case
FILE - In this July 6, 2020, file photo, Tong Ying-kit arrives at a court in a police van in Hong Kong. A lawyer for Tong, who convicted under Hong Kong's national security law, asked Thursday, July 29, 2021, for no more than 10 years in prison instead of the possible life sentence faced by the former...   (Associated Press)

HONG KONG (AP) — A pro-democracy protester was sentenced Friday to nine years in prison in the closely watched first case under Hong Kong’s national security law as Beijing tightens control over the territory.

Tong Ying-kit was convicted Tuesday of inciting secession and terrorism for driving his motorcycle into a group of police officers during a July 1, 2020, rally. He carried a flag bearing the banned slogan, “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times.”

The ruling Communist Party imposed the security law on the former British colony last year following anti-government protests that erupted in mid-2019.

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