Two young men have been jailed for 36 months and 38 months over their participation in a Taiwan-based group which called for Hong Kong independence and US sanctions.

Wan Chai Law Courts Building. Photo: Candice Chau/HKFP.

Chan Tai-sum, 27, and Ng Chi-tung, 25, received their sentences at the District Court on Thursday morning. Chan was jailed for 38 months while Ng was sentenced to 36 months’ imprisonment, local media reported.

The pair pleaded guilty in early July to conspiracy to commit secession. According to a mitigation statement submitted by the defence, both Chan and Ng suffer from autism: Chan had been seeking treatment since the age of 12, while Ng was diagnosed when he was in primary school.

Chan and Ng admitted to being “active members” of the Hong Kong Democratic Independence Union between November 2024 and July 2025. The Taiwan-based group was founded by a self-exiled Hongkonger and advocates for Hong Kong’s independence from China.

In December last year, Hong Kong authorities announced that the operations of the organisation in Hong Kong would be banned, along with the Hong Kong Parliament group.

Judge Ernest Lin said on Thursday that Chan claimed to have joined the Taiwan-based group and committed the offence in order to seek foreign political asylum. This meant he tried to attract foreign forces to act at the expense of the country and Hong Kong, in a ploy that amounted to “selling out one’s country for personal glory.”

The judge added that their actions had a negative impact on Hong Kong’s stability and the national administration.

A screenshot of the Facebook page of Taiwan-based group Hong Kong Democratic Independence Union on July 10, 2025. Photo: Screenshot, via Facebook.

He also noted that Chan had previously been imprisoned for sedition and was a repeat offender. Chan was sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment in 2022 over inciting people to gather in Causeway Bay and Yau Tsim Mong on Christmas Eve in 2021.

Under the Beijing-imposed national security law, the maximum penalty for secession is life behind bars.

Arrests last July

Chan and Ng have been detained since their arrests in July last year over the Taiwan-based organisation.

The court heard in early July that Chan had told police after his arrest how he had joined the group in order to obtain political asylum in Canada, while Ng said he joined out of “curiosity.”

Police found chat logs on the pair’s phones showing they had communicated with other group members via the messaging app Line, and that Chan had contributed to the group’s logo design and the drafting of an organisational charter.

Police found a draft logo for the Hong Kong Democratic Independence Union and draft letters on Chan’s Google Drive urging the US government to protect Hong Kong political prisoners and to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and mainland Chinese officials.

Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution in June 2020 following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest. It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts – broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure. The move gave police sweeping new powers and led to hundreds of arrests amid new legal precedents, while dozens of civil society groups disappeared. The authorities say it restored stability and peace to the city, rejecting criticism from trade partners, the UN and NGOs.