Police stand guard outside the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts building before the sentencing against the 45 convicted pro-democracy activists charged under the national security law, in Hong Kong, China November 19, 2024. Hong Kong's High Court on Tuesday jailed 45 pro-democracy activists for up to 10 years following a landmark national security trial that has damaged the city's once feisty democracy movement and drawn criticism from the U.S. and other countries. A total of 47 pro-democracy activists were arrested and charged in 2021 with conspiracy to commit subversion under a Beijing-imposed national security law and had faced sentences of up to life in prison. The Chinese and Hong Kong governments say the national security laws were necessary to restore order after mass pro-democracy protests in 2019, and the democrats have been treated in accordance with local laws. Australia's Foreign Minister Penny Wong said she was "gravely concerned" about the sentence, and called on China to "cease suppression of freedoms of expression, assembly, media and civil society," in Hong Kong.

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Persons: Benny Tai, Gordon Ng, Owen Chow, Penny Wong, Joshua Wong, Chow, Gwyneth Ho, Hendrick Lui, Elsa Wu Organizations: Hong, Authorities, Kowloon Magistrates Locations: Kowloon, Hong Kong, China, Hong Kong's, U.S, Beijing