Hong Kong's High Court on Tuesday sentenced 45 leading democrats to jail terms of up to 10 years in what critics say is a major blow to the financial hub's rule of law. Under a Beijing-imposed national security law which carries sentences of up to life in prison,

The U.S. has criticized the trial and said the activists should be released as they had been "peacefully participating in political activities."

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