China jails 10 HK activists

HONG KONG, Dec 30: A Chinese court on Wednesday jailed 10 Hong Kong democracy activists for up to three years over a bid to flee the city by speedboat to Taiwan, as a crackdown on dissent in the territory intensifies.
The group were arrested by the Chinese coastguard on August 23 en route to the self-ruled island, which has quietly opened its doors to Hongkongers seeking sanctuary.
The court in the southern city of Shenzhen sentenced Tang Kai-yin to three years in jail and Quinn Moon to two years for organising an illegal border crossing.
The eight others were sentenced to seven months behind bars for illegally crossing the border. The 10 were also fined up to 20,000 yuan (US$3,060) in addition to their jail terms.    -AFP