First batch of Hong Kong democrats freed after 4 years' jail for subversion

Hong Kong - The first batch of individuals jailed in the landmark Hong Kong national security trial of "47 democrats" accused of conspiracy to commit subversion were freed on Tuesday after being behind bars for more than four years.

Four former pro-democracy lawmakers, Claudia Mo, Kwok Ka-ki, Jeremy Tam and Gary Fan, were driven away in cars, with curtains drawn across side windows, from three separate prisons across Hong Kong around dawn.

Security was tight with patrols of police officers and access to some roads to the prisons restricted for hours beforehand.

The vehicles took the democrats directly to their homes, where they were chaperoned by scores of officers up to their front doors.

"I will go back home and reunite with my family. Thank you Hong Kongers", Fan told local media outlet HK01 outside his building in the Tseung Kwan O district.

A Reuters reporter stationed at Mo's home was told to leave by plainclothes officers and told to delete photos if taken. There was no immediate comment from police.

Mo's husband, Philip Bowring, later told a group of reporters that he was pleased to have her back home, adding that she's “well and in good spirits."

"She's only just come back...She has to get used to life again in the outside world," said Bowring, a veteran reporter and writer.

"We'll go to England at some point to see our grandchildren. But it's probably not till July or something like that."

A "Welcome Home Mum!" banner was seen hanging in the living room, according to the MingPao newspaper.

Since large and sustained pro-democracy protests erupted in Hong Kong for most of 2019, China has cracked down on the democratic opposition as well as liberal civil society and media outlets under sweeping national security laws.

The 47 pro-democracy campaigners were arrested and charged in early 2021 with conspiracy to commit subversion under a Beijing-imposed national law which carried sentences of up to life in prison.

Forty-five of these were convicted following a marathon trial, with sentences of up to 10 years. Only two were acquitted.

All four had been denied bail since being charged and were remanded in custody for nearly two years before the trial kicked off in early 2023. All four had pleaded guilty, and were sentenced to four years and two months imprisonment.

Mo, Kwok and Tam were former members of the Civic Party, once one of Hong Kong's leading pro-democracy parties, which was disbanded in early 2024 amid the national security crackdown.

Mo resigned from the Civic Party in 2016 and founded the localist group HK First with Fan of the Neo Democrats.

The democrats were found guilty of organizing an unofficial "primary election" in 2020 to select candidates for a legislative election. Prosecutors accused the activists of plotting to paralyze the government by engaging in potentially disruptive acts had they been elected.

Western governments including the US called the trial politically motivated and had demanded the democrats be freed.

Hong Kong and Beijing, however, say all are equal under the national security laws and the democrats received a fair trial.

(Reporting by Jessie Pang, James Pomfret, Anne-Marie Roantree and Tyrone Siu; Writing by James Pomfret; Editing by Richard Chang and Michael Perry)