The 55th Birthday of Ko Yiu-lam, Sentenced to 6 Years and 7 Months in the “Hong Kong 47” Case, Spent in Prison

（Rights Defense Network Information Center report）On May 13, 2026，this website learned：May 12, 2026，was the 55th birthday of Ko Yiu-lam（Ricky Or Yiu-lam）who was sentenced to 6 years and 7 months in the “Hong Kong 47” case，and he spent his birthday in prison。

Ko Yiu-lam：Born on May 12, 1971，English name Ricky Or Yiu-lam，formerly a British Hong Kong citizen and now a citizen of the People’s Republic of China（Hong Kong），former chairperson of the 「Tseung Kwan O People’s Livelihood Concern Group」，member and former secretary-general of 「Frontier」，former standing member of the Democratic Party’s Central Committee，former convener of the 「District Councilors Alliance」，former chairperson of the owners’ corporation of Kwong Ming Court，former councillor for the Kwong Ming constituency on the Sai Kung District Council in Hong Kong，pan-democrat，and Chinese political prisoner。

Earlier，he was an audio-equipment businessman；in the 2003 Hong Kong District Council election，he stood for election for the first time and successfully won election as councillor for the Kwong Ming constituency on the Sai Kung District Council，then joined 「Frontier」as a member，thereby becoming the party’s only district councillor in Sai Kung，Hong Kong；

In the 2004 Hong Kong Legislative Council election，he and two others registered to stand for election in the New Territories East constituency，but because of coordination among the pan-democrats in the constituency，they instead joined the 「July 1 Alliance」，allowing multiple pro-democracy party figures to run together，and he ultimately lost after ranking seventh；

In the 2007 Hong Kong District Council election，he again stood for election in the Kwong Ming constituency，and was ultimately successfully re-elected by a narrow majority；in 2008 and 2012 he again stood twice in Hong Kong Legislative Council elections，but lost both times by narrow vote margins，although during this period，because Frontier merged with the Democratic Party，he subsequently joined the Democratic Party as the then secretary-general of Frontier；

In September 2018，after the Democratic Party’s Central Committee approved designating the 「Tseung Kwan O People’s Livelihood Concern Group」as a political group，its members, who were also Democratic Party members，could no longer stand for election under dual affiliations，leading him to criticize Democratic Party Legislative Council member Lam Cheuk-ting and others for allegedly deliberately arranging for candidates to clash in the 201 9 Hong Kong District Council election and for acting in an overbearing manner，and in December of the same year，he and 59 other party members announced their withdrawal from the Democratic Party；

In the 2019 District Council election，he returned to contest the Kwong Ming constituency as convener of the 「District Councilors Alliance」and chairperson of the owners’ corporation of Kwong Ming Court，and was ultimately successfully elected as a Sai Kung district councillor；

In the 2020 Legislative Council election，he participated in the pan-democrats’ New Territories East primary，but that Legislative Council election was ultimately canceled by the Hong Kong government；in January 2021，he and a number of other pan-democrats were arrested by police on suspicion of conspiracy to subvert state power，and were later released；on February 28 of the same year，he was again arrested on suspicion of violating the Hong Kong National Security Law by participating in the pan-democrats’ Legislative Council primary involving 47 people，and on March 6，after indicating through his lawyer that he would immediately withdraw from all political affiliations and organizations，he was granted bail pending trial by the High Court；

In October 2021，the government disqualified him from serving as a district councillor and barred him from standing for election for five years；

On May 30, 2024，he was remanded in custody and the Hong Kong High Court judges designated under the National Security Law found him guilty of 「conspiracy to subvert state power」，on November 19 of the same year，the 47 defendants were sentenced at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts in Hong Kong，and because he had signed the 『No Regrets After Putting Pen to Paper』 declaration and 「pleaded not guilty」，he was ultimately given a heavy sentence of 6 years and 7 months’ imprisonment，with his sentence scheduled to end in 2030。His current place of detention is unknown.