WASHINGTON • The United States has condemned the sentencing of several Hong Kong democracy activists for their roles in protests that triggered a crackdown on dissent by China, again accusing Beijing of denying Hong Kongers freedoms they were promised.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday called the charges against the activists "politically motivated" and demanded the release of "those detained or imprisoned for exercising their fundamental freedoms".

Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai was jailed for 14 months on Friday along with four other veteran activists. Martin Lee, who is known as the "father of democracy" in Hong Kong, received a suspended sentence.

The sentencings were the latest in a relentless and successful campaign by China to silence dissent since the protests in 2019.

Mr Blinken said the sentencings were an example of how the Beijing and Hong Kong authorities "undermine protected rights and fundamental freedoms" that were guaranteed when Britain handed the city back to China, "in an effort to eliminate all forms of dissent".

"We will continue to stand with Hong Kongers as they respond to Beijing's assault on these freedoms and autonomy," Mr Blinken said in a statement.

Britain and the European Union also condemned the prison terms handed out to Lai and others.

Last November, Canada said it would make it easier for Hong Kong youth to study and work in the country, in response to new security rules imposed by China on the former British colony.

A spokesman for Canada's immigration ministry on Friday said the special immigration initiative received more than 500 applications in its first three weeks.

China imposed the new national security law last June in Hong Kong, aimed at anything Beijing regards as subversion, secession or terrorism. As China imposed the sweeping law, residents of the city moved tens of billions of dollars across the globe to Canada, where thousands were hoping to forge a new future.

Separately, China's embassy in Reykjavik on Friday said Beijing has sanctioned an individual from Iceland, after the island nation sanctioned Chinese officials over alleged rights abuses in Xinjiang.

Western governments are seeking to hold Beijing accountable for mass detentions of Muslim Uighurs in north-western China, where the US says China is committing genocide.

China denies all accusations of abuse.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS