Hong Kong s collective trauma
Diplomats denied courtroom access
The passengers feared they would be prosecuted for their activism in support of democratic opposition in Hong Kong under new national security laws.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has dismissed calls from the US Embassy for the 12 to be released as interference in China s judicial sovereignty.
The US Embassy said it had requested permission to observe the hearing, but that the request was denied. Their so-called crime was to flee tyranny, the embassy statement said. Communist China will stop at nothing to prevent its people from seeking freedom elsewhere.
British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he was deeply concerned that the group had been tried in secret with just three day s notice, and that British diplomats had been denied entry to the courtroom.
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