Macau jails ex-lawmaker Au Kam San 12.5 years in first 2023 national security trial
· World · The Hindu, BBC News
Au Kam San, 69, a former lawmaker and democracy campaigner, was sentenced to 12 years and six months in prison on November 6, 2026, after a court found him guilty of subversion and other offences under Macau's national security laws widened in 2023. The court heard that Au personally provided, over a long period, assistance and collaboration to external hostile organisations in the collection, preparation, and public dissemination of political images and information filled with subversive claims against the State. He was also convicted of seeking to incite hatred against the Central People's Government with the intent to overthrow China's fundamental constitutional system. Au co-organised annual vigils in Beijing marking the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, an activity previously tolerated only in Macau and Hong Kong. He was detained in July 2025 and his closed-door trial concluded in September after three days.
Why it matters
Au Kam San becomes the first person convicted under Macau's expanded 2023 national security laws, signalling a dramatic tightening of political space in the former Portuguese colony and underscoring Beijing's growing control over its semi-autonomous territory.
Read the original report — The Hindu
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