Macau jails ex-lawmaker Au Kam San for 12.5 years

Macau's Court of First Instance sentenced Au Kam San, a 69-year-old former lawmaker and pro-democracy campaigner, to 12 years and six months in prison on Friday, convicting him of subversion of state power in the city's first national security case.

The trial ran three days behind closed doors and ended in September. A judge barred the public "to ensure that no prejudice is caused to the interests of national security", the BBC reported. Macau's authorities did not publish the details of the case.

The court said Au "personally provided, over a long period of time, assistance and collaboration to external hostile organisations in the collection, preparation, and public dissemination of various images and information that were manifestly filled with political claims of a subversive nature against the political authority of the State", according to AFP, whose report the Bangkok Post carried. The court also said he sought to "incite hatred among Macau residents against the Central People's Government, with the intent to overthrow and undermine the fundamental system of the State".

Au was arrested in July 2025 and faced seven charges: three counts of subverting state power, three of endangering national security by contacting foreign organisations, and one of breach of confidentiality, the BBC reported. The outlets differed on how many he was convicted of. The BBC said four of the seven; the South China Morning Post said five, including the confidentiality count.

Macau, a former Portuguese territory and casino hub, returned to Chinese administration in 1999. Its national security law took effect in 2009, criminalising treason, secession and subversion against the Chinese Communist Party. It was widened in 2023 to cover non-violent secession, and changed again this year to allow trials to be held in private.

His wife, Virginia Cheang, condemned the ruling in an open letter on Friday, calling the case a "groundless persecution designed to humiliate Au". She said she hoped the authorities would let her and the family write to him and visit him in prison. "I dare not hope for more as I believe that will only lead to greater disappointment," she said.

His family said earlier that Au was not allowed to choose his own lawyer and was assigned one by the court, the BBC reported. The group Justice Abroad said his wife and three daughters had not been permitted to see or speak with him since shortly after his detention, and that he had made one telephone call, lasting under a minute, the day after his arrest. "My father dedicated more than 30 years of his life serving the people of Macau," his daughter Cherry was quoted as saying. "All we ask for is a fair trial, due process."

Au was a primary school teacher before entering politics after the 1989 crackdown in Beijing. He was elected to Macau's Legislative Assembly in September 2001 and spent 20 years as one of a handful of pro-democracy lawmakers in a chamber dominated by pro-Beijing members. He co-organised annual vigils marking the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown, tolerated in Macau and Hong Kong until China imposed a sweeping security law on Hong Kong in 2020.

The European Union condemned his arrest last year, saying it heightened concerns about the "erosion of political pluralism" in Macau, the Bangkok Post reported.

The sentence came a day after Hong Kong jailed Joshua Wong, 30, for 10 years, the BBC reported.

Au told AFP in 2024: "I admit that in the fight for democracy we have accomplished nothing, but I believe in sowing seeds and giving them a chance to grow."