Foreign governments criticise Hong Kong's sentencing of 45 activists; Beijing defends move

Forty-five prominent activists in Hong Kong were sentenced to jail for up to 10 years on Tuesday, sparking criticism from foreign governments and rights groups, but Beijing defended the decisions.

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The democracy advocates were among 47 people charged under a Beijing-imposed national security law in 2021 for their involvement in an unofficial primary election to pick opposition candidates. In the city's biggest national security case to date, they were accused of agreeing to veto government-proposed budgets indiscriminately after potentially secur