Hong Kong: Five jailed in for 'seditious' children's booksFive speech therapists in Hong Kong have been jailed for 19 months each after being found guilty of publishing "seditious" children's books.
Authorities interpreted the books - about sheep trying to hold back wolves from their village - as referring to Hong Kong and the Beijing government.
The authors argued the books chronicled "history from the people's perspective".
But a government-picked judge concluded they were "a brainwashing exercise".
The sentencing comes amid a crackdown on civil liberties since 2020, when China imposed a new national security law.
Beijing said the law was needed to bring stability to the city - but critics said it was designed to squash dissent, and weaken Hong Kong's autonomy.
Hong Kong is a Special Administrative Region of China, and has a "one country, two systems" principle, which is designed to give the city certain freedoms.
The five speech therapists - Lai Man-ling, Melody Yeung, Sidney Ng, Samuel Chan and Fong Tsz-ho - have already spent more than a year in jail awaiting the verdict.
One of their lawyers said they could be released within a month, because of the time already served.
The group, who are aged between 25 and 28, produced cartoon e-books that some interpreted as trying to explain Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement to children...............
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-62863622
