WHERE'S JIMMY CARTER WHEN WE NEED HIM?:

Authorities charged more than two dozen pro-democracy politicians and activists over a vigil last year, which commemorated the victims of Beijing's deadly crackdown in 1989. 

The trio were the only ones to contest their charges in court, meaning they were the last to receive their verdict. 

Hong Kong's District Court convicted them of charges including inciting and taking part in an unauthorised assembly.

In practical terms, the convictions make minimal difference. 

Lai, Chow and Ho are among dozens of activists already behind bars facing separate prosecutions under a strict national security law that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong in the wake of huge and often violent democracy protests two years ago.

But their prosecution is the latest illustration of how much the gap has narrowed between Hong Kong and the mainland, where authorities have long sought to scrub memories and official records of Tiananmen.

U.S. President Donald Trump has described protests in Hong Kong as "riots" that China will have to deal with itself, signaling a hands-off approach to the biggest political crisis gripping the former British colony in decades.

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