The Hong Kong government assured Monday that it would pursue “for life” Agnes Chow, imprisoned for her role in pro-democracy demonstrations before being released on bail, then fleeing this former British colony.
The political activist had announced the day before on social networks – on the occasion of her 27e anniversary — 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,” his “flight to escape legal responsibilities.”
He added that she was “completely devoid of integrity” and that “her hypocrisy, dishonor and disregard for law and order were exposed.”
“The fugitives will be prosecuted for life unless they surrender,” the government warned.
Agnes Chow is one of the best known among the young leading figures of the vast protest actions of 2012, 2014 and 2019 against the increasingly harsh measures imposed by Beijing on Hong Kong.
She spent around seven months behind bars for her role in a rally outside local police headquarters in 2019, when huge crowds defied Chinese rule week after week, the largest protest movement since the handover in 1997 by the United Kingdom of this territory.
Based in Toronto
On Sunday, Agnes Chow published two articles, breaking the silence she had maintained 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 she had, before deciding to leave for Canada , “took into account the situation in Hong Kong, my personal safety, my physical and mental health”.
Agnes Chow said she moved to Toronto in mid-September for university studies and would not return to Hong Kong in December to report to police, one of the conditions of her release on bail , with the surrender of his passport.
She was one of nine people arrested in 2020 alongside pro-democracy media mogul Jimmy Lai, accused of “collusion with foreign forces to endanger national security”.
In early July, Hong Kong police offered to return her passport on the condition that she travel once with law enforcement officers to the mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen.
Agnes Chow agreed, and in mid-August she spent a day with five police officers, 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 could feel that I had been watched throughout the trip,” she wrote.
Since a national security law was imposed by Beijing on Hong Kong, many of the dissidents and most of the leaders of the democracy movement in that territory have been arrested, imprisoned or fled abroad.