Hong Kong man, 21, sentenced for anti-government bomb plot he participated in as a teen
HONG KONG — A young Hong Kong man was sentenced to more than five years in prison for participating in a thwarted bomb plot that aimed to build resistance forces, in a closely watched case involving high school students accused of serious crimes following massive anti-government protests in 2019.
Prosecutors said Alexander Au, 21, and the five others in court Thursday had planned to manufacture explosives and target court buildings. Their plot was foiled because of a police investigation, and no bombs were made and no casualties occurred.
Though the six are not among the most prominent activists in Hong Kong’s suppressed democracy movement, their case has drawn attention because they were all students when the prosecution began in 2021 and they were charged with conspiracy to carry out terrorist activities under a 2020 Beijing-imposed national security law.
Earlier this month, Au and four other defendants, whose ages ranged from 17 to 20, pleaded guilty to conspiring to cause explosions likely to endanger life and property, an alternative to the terrorism charge, which falls under a separate law. The remaining defendant, Ho Yu-wang, 19, admitted to the terrorism charge.
Ho was described as one of the plot’s masterminds. Judge Alex Lee said at Thursday’s sentencing that the plot would have worsened the social situation in Hong Kong had it materialized, and could have caused casualties.
Lee sentenced Au to five years and eight months in prison, saying he was more culpable since he was involved in renting a room in a guesthouse for making explosives and in reconnoitering targeted buildings with Ho.
Hong Kong is preparing to introduce new middle school textbooks that will deny the Chinese territory was ever a British colony.
Three of the defendants who are younger than 21 will be sent to rehabilitation-focused training centers, Lee said. They could be held for up to three years, but the length of their stays will depend on authorities’ evaluation of their conduct.
The sentencing hearing for Ho and the remaining defendant was postponed to September. The pair stayed only briefly in the courtroom.
When police raided the guesthouse room in 2021, officers seized equipment believed to be used for making explosives. They also alleged that Ho had written notes saying his goal was to destabilize Hong Kong, promote conflict between the central government and others, and build up a resistance group.
The national security law imposed on the city after the 2019 protests criminalizes acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. It has led to the arrests of many prominent activists, including activist publisher Jimmy Lai and former student leader Joshua Wong.
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