A Hong Kong court has dismissed the appeals of all 12 activists who challenged their convictions or jail terms in the city’s landmark national security case.

Three Court of Appeal judges – Jeremy Poon, Anthea Pang, and Derek Pang – upheld the activists’ convictions and jail terms on Monday, delivering their decision at the West Kowloon Law Courts Building.

The judges also rejected the government’s appeal against barrister and democracy activist Lawrence Lau’s acquittal, meaning he remains cleared of his charge.

Lau entered the West Kowloon Law Courts Building shortly after 8.30am, holding a book titled Listening to the Law, written by US Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett.

The 12 defendants were led into the dock shortly before the hearing began at 10am. Many appeared spirited, smiling and waving to a packed public gallery where their friends and family members were seated.

Several co-defendants in the case who have completed their prison terms – including Lester Shum, Jimmy Sham, Fergus Leung, Frankie Fung, and Henry Wong – were also seen in the public gallery.

The appeals relate to a high-profile national security case in which 47 opposition figures were arrested and charged with conspiring to commit subversion in 2021.

In May 2024, the court found 45 of the defendants guilty over their roles in an unofficial primary election in July 2020. The primary aimed to maximise the pro-democracy camp’s chance at winning a legislative majority, enabling them to threaten a veto of the government budget to press for political demands like universal suffrage. Legal scholar Benny Tai received the heaviest jail sentence of 10 years.

Two defendants, Lau and former district councillor Lee Yue-shun, were acquitted.

Of the 12 activists who lodged appeals, former journalist Gwyneth Ho sought only to overturn her conviction, while 10 others, including ex-lawmaker Leung Kwok-hung and activist Owen Chow, appealed against both their convictions and sentences.

Activist Wong Ji-yuet, who pleaded guilty, appealed her sentence.

“The scheme was conceived, advocated and pursued by [Tai] as a ‘constitutional mass destruction weapon’ for the purpose of toppling the constitutional order in” Hong Kong, Judge Jeremy Poon said during Monday’s hearing.

“A LegCo [Legislative Council] member could not act in contravention of the overarching constitutional duty of upholding the constitutional order” in Hong Kong, the judge also said. “If a LegCo member joined the scheme… he must have necessarily acted in breach of such constitutional duty.”

The appellate judges also rejected arguments that the defendants had received an unfair trial due to excessive judicial intervention and that the seven-year starting sentence was too heavy.

They also rejected the government’s argument that the trial court made “perverse” findings in acquitting Lau.

As Judge Poon delivered the judgment, some defendants shook their heads slightly, and Ho was seen laughing at one point.

When the hearing ended, friends and family waved to the defendants as they were led away by prison guards.

After the hearing, Lau told reporters outside the courtroom that he was “cheered” by the appellate court’s decision, but declined to comment further.

When asked if he was worried about a further appeal by the government, Lau said in Cantonese: “The Department of Justice is the gatekeeper of the law.”