Reveals Personal Information Of Police Shooting During The 2019 Demo, Hong Kong Activist Joshua Wong Jailed For 3 Months

Illustration of Prison (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - One of Hong Kong's most prominent democracy activists, Joshua Wong, was sentenced to three months in prison for information breach involving a police officer. The 26-year-old became famous in 2014 when he emerged as a leader of a democratic protest led by students where roads at the heart of a financial center were blocked for 79 days. In a verdict Monday, April 17, as quoted by Reuters via Channelnewsasia, Wong was sentenced for violating a court ban to disclose personal information about a police officer who opened fire at a protest in 2019, according to the post. Wong attended the trial but did not speak, a witness said in court. The court did not immediately issue a written verdict, only imposing verbal punishment. Meanwhile, Wong's lawyer was not immediately available for comment. Wong galvanized international support for the former British colony's pro-democracy movement, met with politicians from the United States, Europe, and elsewhere, and angered Beijing. Beijing even called "black-handed" foreign troops. Wong was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018 for his role in the 2014 protests, known as the Umbrella Movement. It is called the umbrella movement because protesters use umbrellas to protect themselves from water cannons and tear gas. Wong is one of 47 pro-democracy figures charged with conspiring to carry out subversions, under the national security law imposed by Beijing in 2020, for participating in the unofficial preliminary elections that year.

The Western government has criticized the law as a tool to destroy dissent. It's just that Chinese and Hong Kong authorities say the law brings stability to a semi-autonomous financial hub after months of violent protests in 2019.