Hong Kong court sentences defendants in Hong Kong Alliance case: Tonyee Chow sentenced to 7 months and 3 months, Lee Cheuk-yan to 7 years, Albert Ho to 5 years and 2 months

(Information Center of Civil Rights and Livelihood Watch report) On September 11, 2026, this outlet learned that a Hong Kong court today handed down sentences in the Hong Kong Alliance case: Tonyee Chow was sentenced to 7 months and 3 months, Lee Cheuk-yan to 7 years, and Albert Ho to 5 years and 2 months; the Hong Kong Alliance was fined HK$1.5 million.

At the end of the hearing, Tonyee Chow raised the three-finger salute from The Hunger Games toward the public gallery, after which correctional officers immediately forced her arm down and prevented her from waving.

According to information disclosed by the prosecution on the day of mitigation: after deducting days served in other cases, as of today Lee Cheuk-yan and Tonyee Chow have been remanded for 1,442 and 1,418 days, respectively; Albert Ho, who was granted bail for approximately seven months, has been remanded for 1,301 days. Assuming the three do not receive sentence reductions in prison, Lee Cheuk-yan is expected to be released in September 2029, Albert Ho in April 2028, and Tonyee Chow in January 2030.

Profile of Tonyee Chow: Female, born on January 24, 1985; English name: Tonyee Chow Hang-tung; formerly a British Hong Kong national, now a national of the People’s Republic of China (Hong Kong); Hong Kong barrister; former vice-chairwoman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China; recipient of the 35th “China Outstanding Democrats Award”; democracy and human-rights activist; social activist; Chinese political prisoner detained in China.

She studied physics at Homerton College, University of Cambridge, in her early years. After graduating, she studied law at the School of Professional and Continuing Education of the University of Hong Kong, and subsequently became a practicing barrister in Hong Kong; from 2016 onward, because of her dedication to China’s democracy and human-rights cause, she began serving as vice-chairwoman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China (the Hong Kong Alliance), during which she actively promoted and organized the annual June 4 candlelight vigil in Victoria Park (known as “the Park”); in 2020, when veteran Hong Kong democrats including Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho, as well as senior Hong Kong Alliance figures, successively faced persecution by the Chinese Communist Party-controlled Hong Kong government and were imprisoned, she courageously stepped forward and became a principal leader in continuing to organize Hong Kong citizens’ June 4 commemorative activities; on June 4, 2021, under the control of the CCP-led Hong Kong version of the “National Security Law,” Hong Kong police banned the Alliance from holding that evening’s June 4 candlelight vigil in Victoria Park on the grounds of epidemic prevention (the coronavirus disease 2019, COVID-19); in response, the Alliance immediately filed an appeal, but because the appeal was quickly rejected, she publicly stated that she would attend the event in her personal capacity; the following day, she was arrested by police on suspicion of “publicizing an unauthorized assembly”; on August 5 of the same year, she was temporarily released on bail pending trial, but on September 8, 2021, she was arrested again by Hong Kong police for refusing to submit the Alliance’s documents to the Hong Kong national security department within the deadline; the following day, she was formally charged together with eight people, including Alliance chair Lee Cheuk-yan and vice-chair Albert Ho, on suspicion of “conspiracy to subvert state power,” accused of having violated relevant provisions of the Hong Kong version of the National Security Law because statements they published on social networks and in the media were intended to encourage the public to participate in an unauthorized June 4 assembly, and therefore subject to sentencing; in December 2021, the cases against the eight were jointly adjudicated by a Hong Kong court, and she was sentenced to one year (12 months) for “incitement to subvert state power” and the 2020 offense of “inciting others to participate in an unauthorized assembly”; on January 4, 2022, she was again sentenced by a Hong Kong court to one year and three months (15 months) for the 2020 and 2021 offenses of “inciting others to participate in an unauthorized assembly”; because part of the sentences from the two judgments was served concurrently, the final sentence was 22 months; dissatisfied with the judgment, she appealed, insisting that her posts and articles were intended to call on people not to forget June 4, rather than incite people to gather and cause trouble; on December 14, 2022, following a further ruling by the Hong Kong High Court, she was ultimately declared not guilty of the June 4 incitement-to-assemble charge, and the conviction and sentence on that charge were therefore quashed; on March 11, 2023, she and two other former members of the Hong Kong Alliance Standing Committee, Tang Yue-kwun and Tsui Hon-kwong, were sentenced by the West Kowloon Court to four and a half months’ imprisonment for “failing to comply with a notice requiring the submission of information,” after being accused of “violating the relevant National Security Law and refusing to provide relevant information”; dissatisfied, she appealed again, but remains in custody to this day; on May 18, 2023, she received the Gwangju Human Rights Award presented by South Korea’s largest human-rights organization, the May 18 Memorial Foundation; on September 10, 2024, it was learned that she had been imprisoned for three years but was still being prosecuted by a Hong Kong court together with Lee Cheuk-yan in the case concerning the Hong Kong Alliance’s alleged “incitement to subvert state power,” with the trial scheduled to begin on May 6, 2025; however, the trial was repeatedly postponed, and on November 10, 2025, it was learned that the trial in the “incitement to subvert” case against the two, originally scheduled to begin the following day, had again been postponed; on August 21, 2026, the Hong Kong High Court found the two guilty of “incitement to subvert state power”; she and Lee Cheuk-yan, together with Albert Ho, who had earlier pleaded guilty to the same charge, would be sentenced at a later date; on September 11, the cases against the three were finally adjudicated jointly, and she was sentenced to 7 months and 3 months, while Lee Cheuk-yan and Albert Ho were sentenced to 7 years and 5 years and 2 months, respectively; the Alliance was also fined HK$1.5 million; her sentence is expected to end in January 2030. She is currently serving her sentence in a Hong Kong prison.

Profile of Lee Cheuk-yan: Born on February 14, 1957; English name Lee Cheuk-yan; ancestral home in Chaoyang, Guangdong; born in Shanghai and raised in Hong Kong; now a national of the People’s Republic of China (Hong Kong); Christian; former secretary-general of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions; former member of the Legislative Council of British Hong Kong; former member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council; former member of the Tung Wah Group of Hospitals Advisory Board; former member of the University of Hong Kong Council; former chair of the Labour Party; former chair of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China (the Alliance or Hong Kong Alliance); Chinese political prisoner detained in China.

In 1959, to escape the CCP’s “struggle sessions against the black five categories,” his parents carried him as the family fled to Hong Kong. He later attended the primary and secondary schools of Hong Kong’s Munsang College and studied civil engineering at the University of Hong Kong; after graduating from university in 1978, he joined the Kwun Tong Occupational Health Centre under United Christian Hospital, where he worked on promoting occupational health and safety information; in 1980, after joining the Christian Industrial Committee, he began handling labor disputes and planning large-scale strikes; in 1990, he participated in the establishment of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions, and in 1995 he was first elected as a Legislative Council member in a by-election; six months later, he successfully won a seat in the final Legislative Council election; from 1997 to 2012, he ran several times in direct elections for the New Territories West constituency and was re-elected several times; from 1999 to 2006, because he advocated for grassroots and labor rights, supported the development of democracy politically, and opposed legislation under Article 23 of the Basic Law, among other positions, he was named a “satisfactory-performing legislator” for three consecutive terms by the Hong Kong Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace’s Legislative Council monitoring group; in 2007, because he actively intervened in a strike by steel bar workers and helped workers seek reasonable treatment, he helped labor and management ultimately reach an agreement under which the employer agreed to negotiate collectively with the union every year thereafter on workers’ remuneration protections; in 2010, he attended the June 4 candlelight vigil in Victoria Park; in 2011, after democracy pioneer Szeto Wah died, he succeeded him as chair of the Hong Kong Alliance, and together with democratic figures including Fernando Cheung, Audrey Eu and Albert Chan, founded the Labour Party, serving as its founding chair; in March, April and December 2012, he was pepper-sprayed by police for participating in rallies held by various groups and political parties to protest that the Chief Executive election was merely a small-circle election and demand genuine universal suffrage in Hong Kong; he was also strongly opposed by the pro-establishment camp after twice proposing that the Legislative Council (Powers and Privileges) Ordinance be invoked to investigate motions concerning revelations that Leung Chun-ying had allegedly asked the anti-riot police to deal with protesters during the Chief Executive election, as well as irregular building works at his residence, resulting in both motions being defeated; on September 9 of the same year, in the Hong Kong Legislative Council election, he ran vigorously under the Labour Party banner and was ultimately re-elected as a directly elected Legislative Council member for New Territories West; from March 28 to May 6, 2013, because he actively participated in and intervened in the strike at Hong Kong’s Kwai Tsing Container Terminals and helped workers seek reasonable treatment, he was attacked and criticized by Hutchison Whampoa’s port group and numerous businesspeople; in April 2015, after saying that “if Hong Kong citizens accept the government’s fake universal suffrage, it will be even less possible to seek genuine universal suffrage in the future,” and also saying that he “does not agree with the government’s frequent assertion that the nominating committee will pay attention to public opinion,” because the nominating committee was chosen by a small circle and he hoped citizens would not be deceived into accepting controlled and filtered elections, he faced strong dissatisfaction and pressure from the CCP-led Hong Kong authorities after again attending a major June 4 exoneration march that June.

From 2015 to 2016, he intervened on several occasions in strikes by workers in construction and other industries seeking a livelihood, as well as protest marches organized by various civil alliances to fight for the right to survive, helping the strikes and marches achieve positive results to varying degrees; in the 2016 Hong Kong Legislative Council election, he lost after again standing for the Labour Party in New Territories West, ending his 21-year parliamentary career; in June 2018, as secretary of the Hong Kong Alliance, he called on young people, in connection with the 29th anniversary of June 4, to “fight back together, regardless of identity, and resist authoritarian rule from the mainland,” and said that if university students were absent from the June 4 candlelight vigil in Victoria Park, it would weaken the force of solidarity and the demand being demonstrated; on February 28, 2020, he was taken to Cheung Sha Wan Police Station for investigation for participating in the unauthorized “100,000 Christians’ Grand Prayer March for Hong Kong’s Sinners”; on April 18 of the same year, he and 14 other people, including former and current Legislative Council members and pan-democratic figures, were arrested together by police for participating in the “August 18, 2019 Victoria Park flowing assembly”; on May 18 of the same year, the case involving him and more than 10 others was handled in three cases at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts, during which they were each granted temporary bail of HK$1,000, but he was remanded in custody again in April 2021; on April 16 of the same year, nine pan-democratic figures were sentenced by the West Kowloon Court to between eight months and one year and six months for “participating in and organizing an unauthorized assembly”; he received one year, but because he was also involved with Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai in another assembly on August 31, 2019, an additional sentence was imposed, and the court ultimately found him guilty of multiple offenses including “organizing an unauthorized assembly” and “inciting others to participate in an unauthorized assembly,” sentencing him to one year and eight months in prison in April 2021; during the same period, he was also accused together with Tonyee Chow of committing “conspiracy to subvert state power” under the Hong Kong version of the National Security Law and was expected to face a maximum sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment; the trial was then repeatedly postponed, and on November 10, 2025, it was again postponed from the date originally scheduled to begin the following day; on August 21, 2026, the Hong Kong High Court found him and Tonyee Chow guilty of “incitement to subvert state power”; he and Tonyee Chow, together with Albert Ho, who had earlier pleaded guilty to the same charge, would be sentenced at a later date; on September 11, the cases against the three were finally sentenced, with him receiving 7 months, while Tonyee Chow and Albert Ho received 7 years and 3 months and 5 years and 2 months, respectively; the Alliance was also fined HK$1.5 million; his sentence is expected to end in September 2029. He is currently serving his sentence at Shek Pik Prison in Hong Kong.

Profile of Albert Ho: Born on December 1, 1951; English name: Albert Ho Chun-yan; formerly a British Hong Kong national, now a national of the People’s Republic of China (Hong Kong); citizen of Hong Kong Island’s Tin Hau district; practicing solicitor and notary public in Hong Kong; honorary legal adviser to the Hong Kong Nurses Association; former chair of the Hong Kong Alliance; former councillor for Lok Tsui constituency on Tuen Mun District Council; former chair of the Democratic Party and former pan-democratic Legislative Council member; Chinese political prisoner detained in China.

His ancestral home is Zhongshan, Guangdong, and he grew up in Hong Kong; in 1971, he enrolled in the law department of the University of Hong Kong and actively participated in Hong Kong’s student movements in the 1970s, including anti-corruption, blind workers’ strikes and campaigns to defend the Diaoyu Islands, and served as an elected councillor of the University of Hong Kong Students’ Union; he graduated in 1977 and later became a practicing solicitor; from 1982 to 1985, he entered politics, supported Hong Kong’s return to the motherland and democratic governance of Hong Kong by Hong Kong people, and participated in the establishment of the Joint Committee on the Promotion of Democratic Government, campaigning for “direct elections in 1988” and a democratic Basic Law; he returned to China several times to participate in modernization training programs and organized political discussion groups including the Mount Davis Society; in 1990, he and others formed Hong Kong’s first political party, the United Democrats of Hong Kong, which was expanded in 1994 into the present Democratic Party, and he continuously held core positions within the party; from 1995 to 2016, he continuously served as a Legislative Council member, and before Hong Kong’s return in 1998 he was known as a “three-role legislator” (namely, a Legislative Council member, district councillor and Regional Council member); in 2006, because he founded the China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group to follow and support mainland rights lawyers and rights movements and promote the state’s respect for human rights and the establishment of the rule of law and constitutional government, his clear democratic political positions aroused extreme hatred from the CCP government, and he was repeatedly subjected to violent attacks thereafter; on August 20, 2006, while eating after attending a march against the sales tax, he was suddenly attacked by anti-pan-democracy figures and seriously injured, then rushed to hospital for treatment and narrowly escaped death, but was threatened again upon discharge; in June 2010, as chair of the Democratic Party, he proposed that the government accept the district councillors’ reform proposal of the Alliance for Universal Suffrage, and through his efforts the reform proposal passed with a high vote in 2012; from 2013 to 2014, because pan-democratic figures launched the Occupy Central with Love and Peace movement to seek democracy through non-cooperation, especially after the “Scholarism” student protest on September 28, 2014 triggered the September 28 tear-gas crackdown and Umbrella Movement, he played an active coordinating role in promoting the Democratic Party’s support; on January 8, 2015, in order to seek genuine universal suffrage for Hong Kong, he voluntarily resigned as Democratic Party chair so that he could better promote a by-election referendum and initiate internal democratic procedures to seek approval and support; on November 19, 2019, after participating in the anti-extradition movement, he was again assaulted while taking the railway home that evening.

On April 18, 2020, he and 14 other people, including former and current Legislative Council members and pan-democratic figures such as Au Nok-hin, Leung Kwok-hung, Lee Cheuk-yan and businessman Jimmy Lai, were suddenly arrested by national security police on suspicion of “unlawful assembly” for participating in a 2019 June 4 commemorative assembly and march; on May 18 of the same year, the group of 15 appeared for trial at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts, but because of the large number of defendants, the court postponed the hearing until June 1, 2019; on September 13 of the same year, he issued a statement announcing his resignation from all positions in the Chinese Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group, China Human Rights Lawyers College and the Hong Kong Alliance, and his withdrawal from the organizations; on February 16, 2021, his case was heard again at the West Kowloon Court, and on May 29 of the same year he was sentenced to one year and six months (18 months) for “organizing and knowingly participating in an unauthorized assembly”; on September 15, 2021, because he had participated in the “No National Day, Only National Mourning” march on October 1, 2019, openly defied police and disregarded the law, he was again sentenced to 10 months in prison by the District Court for “inciting participation in an unauthorized assembly”; although the two offenses resulted in a combined sentence of two years and four months (28 months), the Hong Kong High Court still required him to remain on remand pending the final judgment; on August 22, 2022, because of his poor health and official concerns that his lung cancer might recur and that he urgently needed medical treatment, the Hong Kong High Court finally granted him bail, although the bail conditions were strict; on March 21, 2023, he was arrested again by the Hong Kong police national security department on suspicion of “interfering with a witness while on bail,” and the following day the West Kowloon Court revoked his bail, requiring him to remain in custody pending trial; on February 21, 2025, it was learned that his case had been consolidated into the Hong Kong Alliance case (involving the dissolved Alliance and its former chairmen Lee Cheuk-yan and Tonyee Chow), and that he was being tried in the High Court on suspicion of “incitement to subvert state power” for allegedly violating the Hong Kong version of the National Security Law, with the trial scheduled to begin on November 11; however, the proceedings have continued to be postponed for various reasons; on August 21, 2026, he, Tonyee Chow and Lee Cheuk-yan were found guilty of “incitement to subvert state power” by the Hong Kong High Court; on September 11, the cases against the three were finally sentenced, with him receiving 5 years and 2 months, while Tonyee Chow and Lee Cheuk-yan received 7 years and 3 months and 7 years, respectively; the Alliance was also fined HK$1.5 million; his sentence is expected to end in April 2028. He is currently detained at Stanley Prison in Hong Kong.