CHINA-HONGKONG: PENALTIES FOR PRO-INDEPENDENCE LEGISLATORS
Prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy student leaders, Joshua Wong Chi-fung, Nathan Law Kwun-chung and Alex Chow Yong-kang, were jailed for six to eight months on August 17, 2017, for storming the government headquarters compound at Tamar during an illegal protest that triggered the 79-day Occupy sit-ins of 2014. The ruling has effectively halted their budding political careers, as they were slapped with a five-year ban from public office because of their criminal records. The prison sentences disqualify all three from running for a Legislative Council seat for five years. All three indicated they would take their case to the Court of Final Appeal.
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