Current:Home > NewsHong Kong pro-democracy activist Agnes Chow jumps bail and moves to Canada-LoTradeCoin
Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Agnes Chow jumps bail and moves to Canada
View Date:2024-12-23 16:17:34
HONG KONG (AP) — One of Hong Kong’s best-known pro-democracy activists, who moved to Canada to pursue further studies, said she would not return to the city to meet her bail conditions, becoming the latest politician to flee Hong Kong under Beijing’s crackdown on dissidents.
Agnes Chow, a famous young face in the city’s once-vibrant pro-democracy movement, was arrested in 2020 under a Beijing-imposed national security law that was enacted following 2019 anti-government protests. She was released on bail but also served more than six months in jail for a separate case over her role in the protests.
After Chow was released from prison in 2021 for that case, she had to regularly report to the police. She said in an Instagram post on Sunday night that the pressure caused her “mental illnesses” and influenced her decision not to return to the city.
Many of her peers have been jailed, arrested, forced into self-exile or silenced after the introduction of the security law in 2020.
The suppression of the city’s pro-democracy movement highlights that freedoms promised to the former British colony when it returned to China in 1997 have been eroded drastically. But Beijing and Hong Kong have hailed the security law for bringing back stability to the semi-autonomous Chinese city.
Chow said the authorities in July offered to return her passport for her to pursue studies in Canada under the condition that she would travel to mainland China with them. She agreed, she said, and her trip in August included a visit to an exhibition on China’s achievements and the headquarters of tech giant Tencent. The authorities later returned her passport to her.
After considering the situation in Hong Kong, her safety and her health, Chow said she “probably won’t return” to the city again.
“I don’t want to be forced to do things that I don’t want to do anymore and be forced to visit mainland China again. If it continues, my body and my mind will collapse even though I am safe,” she wrote.
Hong Kong police on Monday “strongly condemned” Chow’s move, without naming her, saying it was “against and challenging the rule of law.”
“Police urge the woman to immediately turn back before it is too late and not to choose a path of no return. Otherwise, she will bear the stigma of ‘fugitive’ for the rest of her life,” the police said in a statement.
The police did not respond to questions from The Associated Press on Chow’s mainland China trip.
Chow rose to fame with other prominent young activists Joshua Wong and Nathan Law as a student leader for their activism in the 2010s, including pro-democracy protests in 2014.
She co-founded the now-defunct pro-democracy party Demosisto with Wong and Law, but the party was disbanded on June 30, 2020, the same day the security law was enacted.
Wong is now in custody and faces a subversion charge that could result in life imprisonment if convicted. Law fled to Britain and the police in July offered a reward of 1 million Hong Kong dollars ($127,600) for information leading to his arrest.
veryGood! (646)
Related
- Amazon Black Friday 2024 sales event will start Nov. 21: See some of the deals
- After seven seasons in the minors, Wes Wilson hit a home run in his first career at-bat
- Stock market today: Global shares mostly rise as markets brace for US inflation report
- Vehicle strikes 3, fatally injuring 1 in service area of Los Angeles car dealership, official says
- King Charles III celebrates 76th birthday amid cancer battle, opens food hubs
- How did the Maui fires start? What we know about humans making disasters worse
- Trial begins for man charged in killing of girl, 10, whose disappearance prompted monthslong search
- Appeal arguments are set on an order limiting Biden administration communications with social media
- Powell says Fed will likely cut rates cautiously given persistent inflation pressures
- 'Shortcomings' is a comedy that lives in the discomfort
Ranking
- Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul referee handled one of YouTuber's biggest fights
- 2 robotaxi services seeking to bypass safety concerns and expand in San Francisco face pivotal vote
- Family sues Georgia doctor after baby was decapitated during delivery, lawsuit alleges
- Trump says he won’t sign Republican loyalty pledge, flouting debate requirement
- Mechanic dies after being 'trapped' under Amazon delivery van at Florida-based center
- Inflation got a little higher in July as prices for rent and gas spiked
- Satellite images show utter devastation from wildfires in Maui
- California man found dead on Tucson hike during extreme weather conditions
Recommendation
-
Gold is suddenly not so glittery after Trump’s White House victory
-
A Tennessee judge throws out the case of a woman convicted of murder committed when she was 13
-
New southern Wisconsin 353 area code goes into effect in September
-
Taylor Swift Reveals Release Date and First Look at 1989 (Taylor's Version)
-
See Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani's Winning NFL Outing With Kids Zuma and Apollo
-
Sixto Rodriguez, musician subject of 'Searching for Sugar Man,' dies at 81
-
China is edging toward deflation. Here's what that means.
-
'Big Brother' cast member Luke Valentine removed from show after using racial slur