Three young Hong Kong democracy leaders jailed

Student pro-democracy activists Nathan Law (left), Joshua Wong (centre) and Alex Chow (right) speak to the media outside Hong Kong's High Court in Hong Kong, China, on Thursday, the day of their sentencing for unlawful assembly on the first day of the Occupy Central Umbrella Movement when they stormed the Civic Square outside the Hong Kong government headquarters in Sept 2014. (EPA photo)

HONG KONG -- A Hong Kong appeal court on Thursday jailed three prominent young Hong Kong democracy leaders for several months for "unlawful assembly" linked to the city's months-long pro-democracy protests in 2014.

The three are 20-year-old Joshua Wong, former student leader Alex Chow, 26, and Nathan Law, 24, the youngest ever democratically elected lawmaker in Hong Kong. They were jailed for six, seven and eight months respectively.

The former British colony, which last month celebrated the 20th anniversary of its return to Chinese rule, was gridlocked by nearly three months of street protests in 2014's "Umbrella Movement" that failed to convince Beijing to allow full democracy in the city of 7.3 million.