Hong Kong court orders 47 democracy activists be kept in custody

Pro-democracy activists being escorted to a prison van (Kin Cheung/AP)

A Hong Kong court has ordered that all 47 pro-democracy activists charged under a Beijing-imposed national security law be kept in custody, after the Department of Justice appealed an initial decision to grant bail to 15 of them.

Thirty-one of the activists were denied bail outright, with the co-founder of the 2014 Occupy Central protest movement, Benny Tai, withdrawing his bail application after he was remanded in custody in relation to a separate case. The next court hearing will be on May 31.