Activist Chow jumps bail and moves to Canada

Hong Kong activist Agnes Chow arrives at court in Nov 2020

One of Hong Kong’s best-known activists who moved to Canada to pursue her studies said she would not return to the city to meet her bail conditions, becoming the latest politician to flee Hong Kong.

Agnes Chow, a famous young face in the city’s once-vibrant pro-democracy movement, was arrested in 2020 under a security law that was enacted following 2019 anti-government violent protests. She was released on bail but also served more than six months in jail in a separate case over her role in the protests.

After Chow was released from prison in 2021, 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.

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.

Chow told TV Tokyo yesterday that she was still weighing her next steps, including the option of seeking asylum in Canada, the broadcaster reported. Asked whether she would take up political activism there, she said she wanted to do something in Hong Kong’s interest, TV Tokyo said.

Hong Kong police yesterday “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.

Asked about Chow’s case at a daily briefing, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said Hong Kong is a law-based society and no one has a privilege beyond law. Any illegal acts will be punished, he said.

Chow rose to fame with other prominent young activists Joshua Wong and Nathan Law as a student leader, including in 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. MDT/AP