Court rejects appeal over gathering ban
The High Court on Tuesday threw out an appeal by eight activists who were convicted of flouting a Covid-19 gathering ban during a petition two years ago. Former lawmakers Lee Cheuk-yan and Leung Kwok-hung, along with six others, were each given a suspended sentence of 14 days behind bars after they gathered outside government headquarters in Admiralty on May 1, 2020 to call on the administration to hand out unemployment subsidies. At the time, no more than four people were allowed at a gathering. Handing down his verdict, judge Albert Wong said the defendants from the League of Social Democrats and the Labour Party had taken part in a banned gathering with no reasonable excuse, and their convictions were supported by sufficient evidence. Wong said he refused to accept the argument that as long as people were 1.5 metres apart from each other, it would not constitute a gathering. "Even if they really kept a distance of 1.5 metres, it would be wishful thinking to think there was no risk of transmission [of the virus]," the judge wrote. Wong added that the regulation prohibiting gatherings was constitutional and struck a reasonable balance between protecting public health and the freedom to peaceful assembly. The judge also dismissed the appeal against the sentences, saying the two-week jail terms suspended for 18 months were not overly harsh.