The youthful activist Tony Chung, among the first to be convicted for involvement in Hong Kong’s massive pro-democracy protests of 2019, has escaped Hong Kong and, by way of Japan, reached Britain. He is seeking asylum.
The Washington Post reported (December 29, 2023):
Tony Chung, who in an interview described attempted brainwashing while incarcerated and arbitrary rules imposed on him even after his release, is the latest high-profile Hong Kong activist to leave the city in violation of restrictions on overseas travel. Chung told authorities he was planning a trip to Okinawa in Japan for vacation and promised to return to Hong Kong. Earlier this month, Agnes Chow, another democracy activist, announced she had left Hong Kong for Canada in violation of her bail conditions and would probably not return for the rest of her life.
After being released from prison in Hong Kong, Chung (shown above), now 22, was forbidden to speak publicly and required to check in regularly with the local Chinese Communist Party thugs to keep them up to date about his whereabouts, who he talked to, what he and the people he talked to talked about. After preventing him from accepting a part-time job, the authorities suggested that they could pay him something if he did some spying for them. Chung felt that he had no choice but to play along, providing insignificant information in exchange for cash, until he was able to leave the country.
Associated Press reported:
Chung said he was made to sign a document that barred him from disclosing his conversations with the authorities, so he could not seek help from any lawyers nor tell anyone about his situation.
“Under enormous stress and fear, I can only endure silently,” he said.
He started getting sick in October and doctors told him his immune system was compromised due to massive mental stress, he said in his [Instagram] posts. He later persuaded correctional services authorities to let him travel to Okinawa, Japan, for a holiday to manage his emotions. During the trip, he sought help from organizations and people based overseas. He arrived in Britain from Japan on Wednesday to seek asylum….
Chung was convenor of the now-dissolved pro-independence student organization Studentlocalism before being arrested in 2020 near the United States Consulate in Hong Kong, where media reports said he was hoping to seek protection.
For specious reasons, the British government has lately been rejecting the applications for asylum of Hong Kongers who have escaped the intensified tyranny of the former British colony, now entering its fifth calendar year under the freedom-obliterating National Security Law of 2020. Let’s hope that the UK sees its way to alleviating Tony Chung’s stress and fear without delay.
Meanwhile, Hong Kong’s criminal police are being as charming as ever. “Not only have they [Agnes Chow and Tony Chung] failed to reflect on the harms they have caused to Hong Kong and members of the public, but they have also shamefully begged for assistance from foreign anti-China forces under the guise of being victims,” they told reporters. The police also asseverated that up is down, black is white, ignorance is strength, and freedom is slavery.
In November 2021, when Chung was convicted (for “secession and money laundering”), Hong Kong Free Press reported that he was “the third—and youngest—person to be jailed under the Beijing-enacted security law.”
The 20-year-old activist, the youngest person to be convicted under the law, said he pleaded guilty with “no shame in my heart” when he appeared in court about three weeks ago. The judge rebuked him for making a political declaration in court.
In turn, let us rebuke the judge for being a despotism-appeasing jackass.
Today, Chung says he’s going to keep fighting for Hong Kong. “I believe only when Hong Kong people don’t give up, the seeds of freedom and democracy will sprout again one day.”
Also see:
StopTheChinazis.org: “Hong Kong Activist Agnes Chow Chooses to Remain Free”
“Hong Kong’s officials trusted Chow to risk her liberty freely. She betrayed that trust. Well, if so, so what?… Anybody is morally entitled to lie or renege on an agreement to preserve his freedom from tyrants.”
