Activist Agnes Chow Ting will not return to Hong Kong amid ongoing investigation News
Pakkin Leung@Rice Post, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Activist Agnes Chow Ting will not return to Hong Kong amid ongoing investigation

Hong Kong opposition activist, Agnes Chow Ting revealed on her social media Sunday that she has no plan to return to Hong Kong, despite being required to return by the Hong Kong Police National Security Department (NSD) in December.

The NSD responded to Chow, condemning her plan to skip bail as against the rule of law. The NSD arrested Chow for suspected “collusion with external elements” under the Hong Kong National Security Law in August 2020. During the ongoing investigation, Chow was sentenced to jail for 10 months based on her convictions for one count of “taking part in an unauthorized assembly without lawful authority or reasonable excuse” and one count of “incitement to take part in an unauthorized assembly” for her participation protests surrounding police headquarters in June 2019. After she finished serving her sentence, the NSD released her on bail but confiscated her travel document pursuant to Article 43 of the National Security Law.

Earlier this year, Chow was admitted to a Canadian university to further her studies. In August, the NSD returned her travel documents but required her to visit a “Reform and Opening Up” exhibition to learn about the development of China and the Chinese Communist Party under the supervision of 5 Hong Kong National Security officers. The NSD extended her bail until December this year.

Chow was previously an activist with Demosistō, a Hong Kong political party aimed at promoting democratic self-determination, but has since left the party. She attempted to run for political office in 2018 but the Returning Officer decided that she was not qualified to run. This decision was later overturned by the court for the breach of procedural fairness.

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