Hong Kong court upholds minimum sentences for breaching Beijing-imposed security law

By KANIS LEUNG
Associated Press

HONG KONG (AP) — A jailed university student who pleaded guilty to inciting secession in Hong Kong has lost his bid to reduce his five-year sentence. Tuesday’s unanimous decision from the top court is expected to set the bar for other cases brought under the national security law Beijing imposed on Hong Kong. Lui Sai-yu pleaded guilty in 2022 and admitted that content on a Telegram channel he administered incited others to separate Hong Kong from China or alter the legal status of the city unlawfully. But his timely guilty plea did not get him a reduction in the length of his imprisonment because the security law imposed minimum jail terms for serious offenses.