Hong Kong democracy activist Tony Chung (鍾翰林), who once called for the territory’s independence and was the youngest person to be jailed under its national security law, has been granted asylum in the UK.
Chung, 24, posted a letter from the British Home Office on his Instagram page which read: “Your claim for asylum has been successful and you have been granted refugee status.”
British authorities accepted that Chung has a “well-founded fear of persecution and therefore cannot return to your country.”
Photo: AFP
He has been granted a five-year residence permit and would be able to apply for permanent residence.
“The moment I received this notification, my feelings were truly indescribable,” Chung wrote. “My first reaction was sheer excitement ... however, this sense of possibility has brought me fear — fear of planning for the future.”
“All I can say is that I won’t give up, and I don’t want to give up,” he added.
The Hong Kong Government on Monday issued a statement saying that it “strongly demands that foreign governments immediately stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs, which are purely China’s internal affairs.”
It said that “any arrest and prosecution are based on facts and evidence, and is directed against the criminal act and has nothing to do with the political stance, background, thought or speech of the person(s) concerned.”
Beijing imposed its national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 after months of huge and often violent pro-democracy protests in the territory.
In 2021, Chung, then 20, became the youngest person to be jailed under the security law after he pleaded guilty to “secession” and was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison.
He fled to Britain in 2023 and applied for political asylum upon entry, saying he had been closely watched by the Hong Kong national security police despite his jail term having ended early for good behavior.
Chung, who said he has suffered from depression since his detention, was previously the convenor of Student Localism, a small group he set up as a secondary-school pupil to advocate for Hong Kong’s independence from China.
Separation from China was then a fringe view in Hong Kong, although calls for self-rule became more vocal during the 2019 protests.
Chung in 2020 was taken by plainclothes police from a coffee shop opposite the US consulate in Hong Kong, where he was allegedly planning to seek asylum.
Chung revealed the news of his successful asylum bid the day after former Hong Kong legislator Ted Hui (許智?) said he had been granted asylum in Australia.
Chung and Hui are among dozens of activists targeted with bounties by Hong Kong authorities.
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