• Two men linked to the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office were sentenced for spying on dissidents.
• Peter Wai received a 10-year sentence; Bill Yuen received eight years.
• The Chinese embassy condemned the court's actions as a political maneuver.
• The case has raised tensions between the UK and China over espionage allegations.

A British court has sentenced two Chinese-British nationals, Bill Yuen Chung-biu and Peter Wai Chi-leung, to prison for up to ten years for spying on dissidents in the UK. Yuen, a retired Hong Kong police officer, received an eight-year sentence, while Wai, a former UK Border Force officer, was sentenced to ten years for assisting a foreign intelligence service and for misconduct in public office, according to SCMP and India Times.

The court found both defendants guilty of breaching the UK's National Security Act, with Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb describing their conduct as "deliberate, concerted and serious." Their surveillance activities targeted figures critical of Beijing, including prominent activists like Nathan Law, as well as political figures such as Iain Duncan Smith, according to LA Times.

The sentencing has drawn condemnation from the Chinese embassy, which characterized it as a "political maneuver" aimed at undermining China's government. A representative stated that the UK's actions reflect an abuse of legal and judicial processes, accusing it of slandering Chinese citizens, as noted by SCMP.

Wai and Yuen were involved in operations that included gathering personal data on activists and conducting surveillance on behalf of Hong Kong authorities. The activities described by prosecutors included the collection of intelligence about political figures as well as pro-democracy activists who have fled to the UK following the enforcement of strict national security laws in Hong Kong, according to India Times and LA Times.