HONG KONG — Hong Kong’s high court on Thursday sentenced a man to 23 years and 10 months in prison for being the mastermind of an alleged plot to attack police with explosives during the city’s pro-democracy and anti-China protests in 2019. Another defendant, Wong Chun-keung, the leader of a group known as the “Dragon Slayers” that was active during the 2019 protests, was sentenced to 13 years and six months imprisonment. The long jail terms come amid a protracted national security clampdown by China in the global financial hub, and is the first time the U.N. anti-terrorism ordinance has been used in Hong Kong since 2002. He was convicted of an alternative charge of conspiring to cause explosions that were likely to endanger life or cause significant property damage. The ruling came less than a week before 45 of Hong Kong’s leading democrats face sentencing in a separate national security case for an alleged subversive plot from 2020.

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Persons: Ng Chi, Wong Chun, Judianna Barnes, Steve Li, ”, Lai Chun, Hong Kong’s Organizations: United Nations Anti, Hong Kong Locations: HONG KONG, China, Hong Kong