Three pro-democracy activists of Hong Kong were on Wednesday sentenced to between seven and 13½ months in jail over charges of unauthorised assembly linked to a mass siege of the police headquarters in Wan Chai in June last year.

Joshua Wong, 24 was handed the longest prison term, of 13½ months. Agnes Chow, 23, received a sentence of 10 months in prison, while Ivan Lam, 26, was jailed for seven months. Chow broke down in tears when she heard the pronouncement of her jail term, which meant she would have to spend her 24th birthday behind bars tomorrow.

Their sentencing drew a response from the United Kingdom’s top diplomat Dominic Raab, who called on Chinese authorities to stop their efforts to “stifle opposition.”

The trio had pleaded guilty to inciting and organising an unauthorised assembly outside the police headquarters in Wan Chai on Hong Kong Island on June 21 last year as thousands of people besieged the premises, demanding the government withdraw its proposed extradition bill and that the police stop denouncing the citywide protests as riots.

On Wednesday, magistrate Wong Sze-lai said in Eastern Magistrates’ Court that she had made reference to a court judgement on clashes that broke out at the Civic Square of the government headquarters in 2014, which triggered the 79-day Occupy Central, otherwise known as the Umbrella Movement. Both cases were related to criminal charges under the Public Order Ordinance, Wong said.

The magistrate said that she took into account behaviors by the defendants which created a potential risk of violence. She found the case was premeditated and the rally was organised, and that all three defendants were active participants inciting other people to join the illegal assembly, leading to the police deploying more resources to manage the situation.

The slogans being chanted by the protesters were without a doubt challenging the police force, Wong said, adding that the case was more serious than other cases on unauthorized assembly.

A deterrent sentence must be imposed, with immediate custody as the only option, the magistrate told the court.

Dominic Raab, foreign affairs secretary of the U.K., issued a statement on the same afternoon in response to the jailing of the trio. “As 3 Hong Kong activists begin prison sentences, I urge the Hong Kong and Beijing authorities to end their campaign to stifle opposition,” he wrote. “Prosecution decisions must be fair & impartial. Rights and freedoms in Hong Kong must be upheld.”

With the help of his defense lawyer, Wong wrote on Twitter after the sentencing, saying: “It’s not the end of the fight. Ahead of us is another challenging battleground. We’re now joining the battle in prison along with many brave protesters, less visible yet essential in the fight for democracy and freedom for HK.”

On Facebook, Wong said he was sorry that he was unable to continue his work in the community. “Knowing it will be difficult but I will hang in there. We all add oil and never give up,” he added.

Because of his jailing, Wong will miss his graduation ceremony at the Open University of Hong Kong on Friday.

Separately, pro-democracy Hong Kong activist Nathan Law, who went into self-exile in the summer, said in a tweet that it was devastating to witness the imprisonment of three of his former comrades.

Law called the sentencing absurd and urged internet users to retweet a demand for an immediate release of the trio, an end to prosecutions under the city’s national security laws and sanctions to be imposed on government officials who were accountable for the state of affairs.

All four Hong Kong activists are former leaders and members of the now-disbanded Demosisto group. Prior to sentencing on Wednesday, Wong, Chow and Lam have been remanded in custody for nine days since Nov. 23.

Their charges comprise one count of incitement to knowingly take part in an unauthorised assembly, one count of organising an unauthorised assembly, and one count of knowingly taking part in an unauthorised assembly.

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