Mr. Leung Kwok-hung of the “Hong Kong 47” case, sentenced to 6 years and 9 months, spends his 70th birthday in prison

（Information Center of the Human Rights Defense Network report）On March 27, 2026，this website learned： March 27 is the 70th birthday of “Long Hair” Leung Kwok-hung（Leung Kwok-hung）a defendant in the “Hong Kong 47” case who was sentenced to 6 years and 9 months，and he will spend his birthday in prison。On November 19, 2024，Mr. Leung Kwok-hung was sentenced to 6 years and 9 months in the Hong Kong 47 case for conspiracy to subvert state power。On February 23, 2026，his appeal was rejected，and he has applied to the Court of Final Appeal for leave to appeal。

Biography of Leung Kwok-hung：Born on March 27, 1956，his ancestral home is Zengcheng, Guangdong，he was born in British Hong Kong，and is currently a Kowloon Bay citizen of the People’s Republic of China（Hong Kong），English name：Leung Kwok-hung，nicknamed “Long Hair”，former member of the Revolutionary Marxist League，former Hong Kong Legislative Council member，former Standing Committee member of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China，chairman of the League of Social Democrats（local political party organisation）、chief representative of April Fifth Action（local political party organisation），pro-democracy political figure，political prisoner detained in China。

From childhood, he joined the Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions with his mother，who was a member of the organisation；as a teenager，he studied at Clementi Secondary School in Hong Kong and participated in the Maoist student movement；after graduating from Secondary Six，he worked in grassroots occupations including bartender，construction worker and Kowloon Motor Bus car-washing worker；

In 1975，he joined the Revolutionary Marxist League and was known as “Hung Jai”；

In April 1979，he was arrested twice for commemorating the third anniversary of the April Fifth Tiananmen Incident and supporting the mainland Chinese democratic movement，and was later charged with “displaying slogans in a public place without permission from the District Office” and “unlawful assembly”，being sentenced by a court to one month in prison on June 5 of the same year；

In 1988，he co-founded April Fifth Action with others and was imprisoned for “contempt of the legislature (Legislative Council)”；during the same period，he repeatedly carried coffins outside venues to protest during visits to Hong Kong by Chinese Communist Party national leaders，and because of his long-term participation in social movements and related demonstrations，he served as a Standing Committee member of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China；

From 2004 to 2019，he was elected as a Hong Kong Legislative Council member for five consecutive terms，but during his fifth election，the Hong Kong courts ruled that he was disqualified as a legislator because of the oath-taking controversy，ending his parliamentary career thereafter；while serving as a legislator，he vigorously advocated and focused on livelihood issues including a universal retirement protection scheme、the repurchase of public utilities、and the establishment of a minimum wage and standard working hours；

In 2004，when taking the oath to become a Legislative Council member，after taking the oath，he shouted slogans including “Rehabilitate June 4” and “End one-party dictatorship and release mainland Chinese political prisoners” on the spot，and thus became the first legislator during his tenure at the Legislative Council；

In 2006，he co-founded the League of Social Democrats with Wong Yuk-man and other pan-democrats and served as chairman of the political party organisation；while serving as a legislator，his methods of democratic resistance were initially not accepted by many pro-democracy party legislators，but as the Chinese Communist government’s mainlandisation of Hong Kong became increasingly serious and the Hong Kong government and pro-establishment camp grew increasingly hard-line toward the pan-democrats，the pan-democratic legislators ultimately accepted his methods of protest。

In June 2014，because he had several previous criminal convictions, all related to demonstrations and marches, and had also burned the flag of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and an image of then national leader Jiang Zemin，he was sentenced by a court to one month in prison for “disorderly conduct in a public place” despite his status as a Legislative Council member；on September 26 of the same year，because the Hong Kong Federation of Students, Scholarism and pan-democratic parties jointly launched a large-scale class boycott（also known as the Umbrella Revolution and Occupy Central movement）to demand that the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress withdraw its reform proposals for Hong Kong in 2016 and 2017 and implement “universal suffrage” for elections including that of the Chief Executive，he persisted in peaceful demonstrations with several pan-democratic legislators during the movement and made great efforts toward this end；

On May 29, 2015，he intended to travel to Malaysia to attend a June 4 forum but was stopped and deported by Malaysian border officials upon arriving at Kuala Lumpur airport on the grounds of a government order；on June 18 of the same year，he and 27 other pan-democratic legislators voted against Hong Kong’s political reform proposal，ultimately causing the bill to be defeated by a large margin；in 2016, during the Hong Kong Legislative Council election，facing the rise of the localist camp，he adhered to his democratic socialist ideals and again stood for election in the New Territories East constituency，and after a fierce campaign he ultimately secured the final consecutive re-election；however, because during his oath-taking he wore clothing bearing the words “civil disobedience,” recited the oath as before and added slogans shouted aloud，then-Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying and the Hong Kong Department of Justice disqualified him as a legislator；

On April 18, 2020，he and 14 other former and serving Legislative Council members and pan-democrats were arrested by Hong Kong police on the grounds that they had participated in unauthorised assemblies on August 18, October 1 and October 20, 2019（referring specifically to protest marches during the anti-extradition movement）and were charged with “unlawful assembly”；

On May 18, 2019，his case was heard together at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts in Hong Kong, after which he was granted bail of HK$1,000 pending trial，and on April 16, 2021, he and several others were formally sentenced by the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts for the two offences of “organising and knowingly participating in an unauthorised [assembly]”，he was sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment, while several others received sentences ranging from 8-1 8 months；on January 6 of the same year，he was arrested again for allegedly violating the Hong Kong National Security Law by previously participating in the Legislative Council primary elections，after being remanded for three years，on November 19, 2024, the case of the 47 defendants was sentenced collectively at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts，and because he “pleaded not guilty,” he was ultimately given a heavy sentence of 6 years and 9 months’ imprisonment。His sentence runs until 2029。He is currently serving his sentence at Shek Pik Prison in Hong Kong.