News Mash-up: Political Prison Sentences

US Capitol rioter gets 8 months for felony A crane operator from Florida who breached the U.S. Senate chamber carrying a Trump campaign flag was sentenced July 19 to eight months behind bars, the first punishment handed down for a felony charge in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and one that could help determine the severity of other sentences in hundreds of pending cases. In pronouncing the sentence on Paul Allard Hodgkins, 38, U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss said Hodgkins had played a role in one of the worst episodes in American history. (AP) 9-year prison term in 1st case under new law A pro-democracy protester was sentenced July 30 to nine years in prison in the closely watched first prosecution under Hong Kong’s national security law as the ruling Communist Party tightens control over the territory. Tong Ying-kit, 24, was convicted of inciting secession and terrorism for driving his motorcycle into a group of police officers at a July 1, 2020, rally. He carried a flag bearing the banned slogan, “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times.” President Xi Jinping’s government imposed the law on the former British colony last year. (AP) These articles were provided by The Japan Times Alpha.