US plans to impose new visa restrictions on Chinese and Hong Kong officials after security verdicts

HONG KONG (AP) — The United States on Friday expressed its deep concerns about the convictions of 14 pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong under a Beijing-imposed national security law, saying it’s taking steps to impose new visa restrictions on mainland Chinese and Hong Kong officials responsible for the implementation of the sweeping legislation.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller called for the release of the detained activists a day after the United Kingdom made a similar appeal following the landmark verdicts on Thursday.

“The defendants were subjected to a politically motivated prosecution and jailed simply for peacefully participating in political activities protected under the Basic Law of Hong Kong,” Miller said in a statement. The Basic Law is the city’s mini-constitution.

He didn’t provide more details about the looming visa restrictions and who they would target.

The democracy advocates were among 47 activists who were charged in the city’s biggest national security case to date. Prosecutors had accused them of attempting to paralyze Hong Kong’s government and topple the city’s leader by securing the legislative majority necessary to indiscriminately veto budgets.

In convicting them, three judges approved by the government to oversee their case said their plan to effect change through an unofficial primary election would have undermined the government’s authority and created a constitutional crisis. But they acquitted two others who also pleaded not guilty, because they were not sure if the pair had the intention to subvert the state’s power.

The 14 activists, along with the remaining 31 others who pleaded guilty earlier, would be sentenced at a later date.

The mass prosecution of the 47