A British citizen and former employee of China’s official Xinhua News Agency was sentenced to life in prison for espionage by a Chinese court.

Chan Yu-lam, along with two other British citizens, was arrested last January on charges of spying for the British government. The Guangzhou Intermediate People’s Court on Friday found Chan, 53, guilty.

Chan’s wife Zhao Dongdong told the Washington Post that Chan was charged because he discussed the Tiananmen Square Massacre with a British agent. Prosecutors charged that Chan violated the law by spying for the British government.

But Zhao questioned how the Chinese government could prosecute her husband for activities that allegedly took place in Hong Kong before China resumed control of the territory.

Chan’s lawyers said that the sentence was too harsh and that they would appeal.

The ruling signifies the Communist Party’s increased pressure on the pro-democracy movement in Hong Kong, which forced the government to withdrawal Article 23, an anti-subversion law.

The largest demonstration in Hong Kong’s history occurred last July when more than 500,000 people protested against Article 23. Critics of the bill say it threatens the civil liberties and human rights of Hong Kong citizens by giving government officials a wide latitude to prosecute vaguely defined crimes against national security, thereby opening the door for China to extend its persecution against spiritual groups such as Christians and Falun Gong practitioners in Hong Kong.

The British Consulate in Guangzhou said they had not received any official notice of Chan’s sentence. British diplomats were told that because Chan entered China on a Hong Kong travel document and not a British passport, he may be treated as a Chinese citizen and not allowed to meet with British consulate officials.

Interpretation of China’s laws on state security and espionage is vague at best with even sensitive newspaper reports carried across the Chinese border considered “leaking state secrets.”

The two other men, identified as Liu Lin and Wei Pingyuan, also worked for the Xinhua News Agency in Hong Kong. All three men were born in Hong Kong and are of Chinese decent.