(Photo : Photo by Anthony Kwan/Getty Images)
HONG KONG, CHINA - SEPTEMBER 30: Family members of the Hong Kong residents detained in China protest outside the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government on September 30, 2020 in Hong Kong, China. A group of Hong Kong families of the 12 detained in China attended the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government to express their demands on the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival after the Hong Kong government had failed to respond to the four official appeals made by the families. The 12 were sent to China 38 days ago, and the families have not heard from the 12 since then.
After trying to flee to Taiwan by using a speedboat, ten Hong Kong activists have been arrested and jailed by China for seven months up to three years.
While others were brought by China, two minors who belonged to the group were transported back to Hong Kong.
The captured activists were caught way back in August while trying to escape after a harsh new security law that was imposed by Beijing in June.
According to Yahoo! News, the case of the so-called Hong Kong 12 did only drawn the attention of the people worldwide as some even were concerned regarding the current status and the treatment towards the detainees.
Based on a statement, the people's court of the Shenzhen Yantian District sentenced the 31-year-old Tang Kai-yin and 33-year-old Quinn Moon to three years and two years in jail respectively because of organizing an illegal crossing of the border.
It also added that the other eight activists were sentenced to a lighter punishment as they were punished with seven months imprisonment for crossing the border illegally.
On Wednesday, the two minors who were aging 17 and 18 were handed over to the police in Hong Kong.
The case of the Hong Kong 12 has also triggered widespread criticism at a time of growing fears regarding the evaporating freedom at the semi-autonomois territory.
Since the activists were taken into custody in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen, they had been held virtually incommunicado, having no access to their respective families or even the lawyers that they had hired.
According to the rights group Amnesty International, After the sentences were given out, the group stated that the activists were at risk of torture, The Guardian reported.
The Asia-Pacific regional director of Amnesty International, Yamini Mishra, mentioned in a statement that these sentences meted out after the unfair trial lay bare dangers faced by anybody who find themselves tried under the Chinese criminal system.
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What led to the arrests?
The Hong Kong 12, who were at that time of their detention at the ages of 16 to 33, were intercepted at the sea by the coastguard of China on the morning of August 23, which is just 40 miles or 70 kilometers south-east of Hong Kong.
Most of those were on board were already facing charges that were linked to the pro-democracy protests that had swept the former British colony last year which means they could not leave the territory by regular means.
Not less than among the activists was being investigated under the controversial national security law.
Taiwan has emerged as a sanctuary for Hong Kong activists who are escaping a growing crackdown on protesters since late of last year, Aljazeera reported.
According to a report by the Washington post, there were hungdreds of Hong Kongers who have sought refuge on the said island, wherein most of those who were arriving legally were by air while the smugglers are utilizing the seas travel to get there.
The case of the Hong Kong 12 had emphasized the growing struggle of activists in finding democracy.
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