The judgment is a stinging rebuke to the government, which has targeted dissent using expansive powers under a national security law imposed by Beijing after Hong Kong's huge pro-democracy protests in 2019.
Three group leaders -- Chow Hang-tung, Tang Ngok-kwan and Tsui Hon-kwong -- were jailed, each for four and a half months, after they refused to turn over details on group members and finances.
“The court unanimously allows the appeals,“ Chief Justice Andrew Cheung said.
“This is hugely gratifying for those who support the Alliance and its volunteers,“ he told reporters outside the court.
The Alliance is facing more serious subversion charges under Hong Kong's national security law and the historical narrative surrounding Tiananmen is expected to be a key point of contention at an upcoming trial.
Prosecutors earlier argued the police chief could order people to hand over information when he “reasonably believed” they were foreign agents, without needing to prove it in court.
Judges also blasted prosecutors for heavily redacting evidence that purported to show the Alliance’s overseas links, leaving “pages often completely covered in black ink”.
“Non-disclosure of the redacted facts in any event deprived the appellants of a fair trial so that their convictions involved a miscarriage of justice.”
Hong Kong has arrested 320 people for national security crimes and convicted 161 of them as of March 1.
Chow is in good spirits because “she is doing what she feels is right”, her mother said after the ruling.
The Court of Final Appeal is keen to shake off the perception of a credibility crisis after a recent exodus of foreign judges, some of whom cited politics as a reason for leaving.
Tam, who is serving a jail sentence of more than three years, argued that prosecutors needed to prove he intended to incite violence.
Judges said the case was largely “transitional” as Hong Kong authorities had already revamped the law last year, so that people can be convicted of sedition even if no intention to incite public disorder or violence was proven.
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