The defendants were prosecuted under a sweeping law imposed by Beijing that crushed a once-thriving pro-democracy movement.

Hundreds queued on Tuesday outside a Hong Kong court ahead of the sentencing of 45 pro-democracy activists in a landmark national security trial that has damaged the city's once feisty pro-democracy movement and drawn international criticism.

A Hong Kong court sentenced 45 pro-democracy advocates in a mass trial on Tuesday, marking the largest case yet brought under the city's draconian National Security Law. The group of legislators, opposition politicians and activists were sentenced to between 51 and 120 months Tuesday on charges of conspiracy to commit subversion of Hong Kong's National Security Law,