Hong Kong’s former pro-democratic party Demosisto’s Deputy Secretary-General Agnes Chow (周庭) said she won’t be returning to Hong Kong after completing a semester in Canada. That’s according to an Instagram post breaking her two-and-a-half-year silence on the matter on Sunday.
Chow, a pro-democracy protest leader, was arrested in 2020 and charged with “colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security.” She was sentenced to 10 months in prison and was subjected to constant police harassment and surveillance after her release in June 2021. In her post, she said Hong Kong authorities also confiscated her passport and barred her from leaving the city since her release.
According to Chow, Hong Kong authorities asked her for a letter of repentance for past political involvement and required her to go to the mainland accompanied by national security officials. Chow said she knew she had no choice but to comply. The trip included a visit to an exhibit that listed all the Chinese leadership’s “glorious accomplishments” and a tour of Tencent’s headquarters. Chow said she found it “ironic” that she had to go through the forced leisure trip in exchange for a chance to study abroad.
Chow, citing the situation in Hong Kong, her safety, and physical and mental health, has decided not to return to Hong Kong after residing in Canada for the past three months.