US calls on Hong Kong to release Tiananmen vigil activists

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called for thereleaseFriday of fourHongKongdemocracyactivistswho were jailed for taking part in avigilfor victims of Beijing's 1989TiananmenSquare crackdown.

"The United States stands with the people ofHongKongand rejects the sentencing ofactivistsfor attending aTiananmencommemoration," Blinken wroteonTwitter.

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"All those imprisoned for nonviolent exercise of guaranteed freedoms should be freed immediately," he added.

Joshua Wong, Lester Shum, Tiffany Yuen and Janelle Leung - four prominent youthactivistsin their twenties, were jailed after pleading guilty to taking part in an "unauthorised assembly" last yearonthe 4JuneTiananmenanniversary.

For the past three decades,HongKonghas marked the anniversary of Beijing's deadly 1989 repression of protests inTiananmenSquare with massive candlelight vigils.

But last year's event was banned for the first time, with police citing the coronavirus pandemic and security fears following huge democracy protests that roiledHongKongthe year before.

Tens of thousands defied the ban and massed peacefully at thevigil's traditional site in Victoria Park.

Since then, prosecutors have brought charges against more than two dozen prominent democracyactivistswho showed up at thevigil, the latest in a string of criminal cases that have ensnared the city's beleaguered democracy movement.

Joshua Wong, one of the city's most recognisable democracyactivists, is currently serving 17.5 months in jail for two convictions linked to the 2019 demonstrations.

He was handed a consecutive 10 months of jail for the new conviction, which will start once current sentences are finished.

Shum, 27, was given six months while Yuen, 27, and Leung, 26, were both handed four months.

Wong, Shum and Yuen have also been charged under a new national security law Beijing imposedonthe city last year to stamp out dissent. They face up to life in jail if convicted.