The Hong Kong government assured Monday that it would prosecute Agnes Chow “for life,” who was jailed for her role in pro-democracy demonstrations before being released on bail and then fleeing this former British colony.
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This political activist had announced the day before on social networks – on the occasion of her 27th birthday – that she would not return to Hong Kong later this month to fulfill the conditions of her release more than two and a half years ago.
In a statement released Monday evening, the local government condemned “Chow’s shameful actions” and his “flight to avoid his legal responsibility.”
He added that she “completely lacks integrity” and that “her hypocrisy, shame and disregard for law and order have been laid bare.”
“The refugees will be punished with life imprisonment if they do not surrender,” the government warned.
Agnes Chow is one of the best-known young figures in the major protests in 2012, 2014 and 2019 against Beijing’s increasingly harsh measures against Hong Kong.
She spent about seven months behind bars for her role in a rally outside local police headquarters in 2019 as huge crowds resisted Chinese rule week after week, the largest protest movement since the United Kingdom handover the territory in 1997.
On Sunday, Agnes Chow published two articles breaking her silence since her release.
“I no longer want to be forced to do anything, and I no longer want to be forced to go to mainland China,” she then said, emphasizing that before deciding to go to Canada, she “looked at the situation in Hong Kong “Kong, my personal safety, my physical and mental health.”
Based in Toronto
Agnes Chow said she moved to Toronto in mid-September to study at university and would not return to Hong Kong in December to report to police, which was one of the conditions of her release on bail and the release of his passport.
She was one of nine people arrested in 2020 along with pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai who were accused of “colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security.”
In early July, Hong Kong police offered to return her passport on the condition that she travel with police officers to the mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen.
Agnes Chow agreed and spent a day with five police officers in mid-August, during which she was shown an exhibition of Chinese achievements and the headquarters of tech giant Tencent – where she was asked to pose for photos.
“I felt like I was being watched the entire trip,” she wrote.
Since Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong, many dissidents and most pro-democracy leaders in the territory have been arrested, detained or fled abroad.