Seven Hong Kong men who tried to flee Hong Kong by speedboat to escape protest-related charges were on Friday sentenced to between seven and 10 months imprisonment for acts to "pervert the course of justice".

The complicated legal and diplomatic saga began in August 2020 when 12 pro-democracy protesters were caught by the Chinese coastguard on a speedboat bound for Taiwan, and then jailed in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

After serving time there, all except two have returned to Hong Kong.

The sentencing came just days after another group of young men, including one shot by a policeman in 2019, were caught during a purported attempt to flee the city by boat.

Six of the men were jailed for 10 months, while Li Tsz-yin, 32, was jailed for seven months. Li is currently serving a 3.5-year jail term for rioting and assaulting a policeman.

Defence lawyers had argued earlier that the men had already served time in a mainland jail. But deputy district judge Newman Wong said the men had "given the public a sense of contempt for the judiciary and a deliberate challenge to the legal system".

Link to pro-democracy movement

All had faced charges linked to an anti-government, pro-democracy protest movement that embroiled Hong Kong in 2019. Many of those sentenced on Friday still face separate criminal proceedings that could see them jailed for longer.

The boat incident fuelled tension between the United States and China at the time, with the State Department saying it was deeply concerned about the case and at the detainees being denied access to lawyers of their choice.

The 12 were kept incommunicado in China for months, denied access to family before being charged with unlawfully entering China.

One of the dozen, Andy Li, is now in a Hong Kong prison awaiting sentencing for a charge of collusion with foreign forces under a China-imposed national security law - a case linked to jailed media tycoon and China critic Jimmy Lai.

Since the mass protests that rumbled for months in Hong Kong in 2019, challenging China's grip over the financial hub, authorities have cracked down on the city's pro-democracy activists and media outlets while overhauling the electoral system to allow only people loyal to Beijing in public office.

Beijing rejects criticism from some Western governments that the city's freedoms and autonomy have been undermined, saying the new national security legislation it has introduced has restored stability after prolonged and sometimes violent protests.

Police have arrested over 10,000 people, including many prominent democrats, on protest-related offences since 2019, with over 2,800 of these prosecuted.

- Reuters