'Hong Kong is at a crossroads': inside prison with the student who took on Beijing

Joshua Wong was 20 when he was sentenced in 2017 to six months for his role in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy ‘umbrella movement’

By Joshua Wong

Joshua Wong outside the legislative council in Hong Kong, 2017. 

DAY 2 Friday, 18 August 2017
The last words I said before I was taken away from the courtroom were: “Hong Kong people, carry on!”
That sums up how I feel about our political struggle.
Since Occupy Central – and the umbrella movement that succeeded it – ended without achieving its stated goal, Hong Kong has entered one of its most challenging chapters.
Protesters coming out of a failed movement are overcome with disillusionment and powerlessness.
The appeal sentencing of myself and my fellow umbrella leaders Nathan Law and Alex Chow has dealt yet another devastating blow to the morale of pro-democracy activists.
Even though it feels as if we have hit rock bottom, we need to stay true to our cause.
We must.
To my friends who have decided to walk away from politics, I hope my being here and writing you this letter will convince you to reconsider.
If not, our sacrifices will have been for nothing.
I miss my mum’s hand-brewed milk tea terribly, and the chicken hotpot at the street-food restaurant where my friends and I always hang out.
That’s the first place I’ll visit as soon as I’m out of here.
But at the moment, my biggest worry is the state of my political party.
Ever since Nathan and I co-founded Demosisto in April 2016 we’ve suffered a series of significant setbacks.
Four weeks ago, Nathan lost his hard-won seat at the legislative council (LegCo) after he and five other members were disqualified on the grounds that they had failed to properly recite their oaths during the swearing-in ceremony.
Nearly everyone is now out of a job, while half of our executive committee is behind bars, or will be in the coming weeks.

A pro-democracy demonstrator at Causeway Bay, Hong Kong, January 2020.

My message to the pro-Beijing camp? Don’t celebrate too soon.
I began my journey in 2012 when I led the campaign against the national education curriculum.
It’s been a tumultuous five years.
I didn’t shed a single tear when the judge announced my sentence, not because I was brave but because I wanted my supporters to embrace my loss of freedom as a necessary step on our collective path to democracy.
To quote JK Rowling’s Hagrid: “What’s coming will come and we’ll meet it when it does.”
Hong Kong is at a crossroads.
The ruling regime will stop at nothing to silence dissent.
For those who dare to stand up to them, the only way forward is together.
And tonight, alone in my cell, I ask you to keep your chin up and use your tears, anger and frustration as motivation to charge ahead. Hong Kong people, carry on!

DAY 3 Saturday, 19 August 2017
I’ve been assigned a two-person cell.
My cellmate seems friendly enough, although we didn’t have a chance to say much to each other before the lights went out.
So far the biggest source of discomfort is perhaps the bed.
In fact, calling it a bed is an over-statement.
It’s nothing more than a wooden plank with no mattress.
But, then again, if I could spend 79 nights sleeping on a highway during the umbrella movement I’m sure I can get used to this too.
Twice a day, the news is broadcast on the PA system.
This morning I was woken up by a story about Chris Patten, the last governor of Hong Kong.
“Mr Patten told reporters that he was heartened by the sacrifices made by Joshua Wong, Alex Chow and Nathan Law, and that he believed these three names will be carved into history ...”
It felt surreal to hear my name mentioned.
The reality that I’m a convicted criminal has finally sunk in.

DAY 8 Thursday, 24 August 2017

Joshua Wong, the student who risked the wrath of Beijing: ‘It’s about turning the impossible into the possible’

I feel a little embarrassed about the enormous media attention that Alex, Nathan and I received last week.
Local newspapers plastered my picture on their front pages the day after I was sent to prison.
The reality is that countless others are being tried or are about to be tried in Hong Kong for their activism work.
Many face much harsher prison terms than we do.
Being phoneless is like having my limbs cut off or an itch I can’t scratch.

DAY 9 Friday, 25 August 2017
LegCo member Shiu Ka-chun, nicknamed “Bottle”, came to see me this morning.
I met him six years ago, when I was a 14-year-old secondary school student and he a social worker and radio presenter.
He later hosted some of my anti-national education rallies.
In the documentary Netflix made about me, Joshua: Teenager vs Superpower, there is a scene in which I appear on Bottle’s radio show and he asks if I have a girlfriend.
“My mum told me it’s too early for me to be dating,” I reply, and everyone in the studio bursts out laughing.
Neither of us would have guessed that five years later we would be talking to each other on different sides of a glass partition.

DAY 10 Saturday, 26 August 2017
A prison supervisor approached me this afternoon for a chat about recent news events.
He began by declaring himself to be an “independent”, and that he’s neither a “yellow ribbon” (a supporter of the umbrella movement) nor a “blue ribbon” (a supporter of the government and the police).
He asked me whether I had any regrets about entering politics and ending up behind bars, before launching into a 30-minute monologue on my conviction.
His point – if there was one: we all got what we asked for.

A protest march on 1 July 1 2017, coinciding with the 20th anniversary of the city’s handover from British to Chinese rule.

DAY 11 Sunday, 27 August 2017
Like every other day since I arrived, a handful of inmates and I spent most of today sweeping the 2,000-sq ft canteen.
We clean after every breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Most twentysomethings in Hong Kong live with their parents and many middle-class households have a live-in maid.
My family is no exception.
I’ve never cleaned this much in my life and I keep telling myself that it’s good for my character.
Twice a day, a senior correctional officer visits the facility.
All inmates have to stand in a straight line with our chests out, make a fist with both hands, and stare, not straight ahead, but 45 degrees upwards.

DAY 15 Thursday, 31 August 2017
Today I had my first dreaded morning march.
I’m scrawny and spend nearly all my spare time playing video games and watching Japanese anime.I don’t go out much and I’ve never been athletic or particularly coordinated.
I’ll be lucky to get through the march without embarrassing or hurting myself.

DAY 18 Sunday, 3 September 2017
Three years ago, I joined hundreds of thousands of brave citizens in the largest political movement in Hong Kong’s history with the simple goal to bring true democracy to our city.
We asked to exercise our constitutional right to elect our own leader through a fair and open election. Not only did the Hong Kong government – appointed by Beijing and under its direction – ignore our demands, it also arrested and charged many of us with illegal assembly.
Until recently, the charge of unlawful assembly was used only to prosecute members of local gangs. In the past, the term “political prisoner” conjured up frightening images of dissidents in mainland China being rounded up and thrown into jail.
It’s hard to imagine that the term now also applies to Hong Kong.
As Beijing’s long arm reaches into every corner and threatens our freedoms and way of life, the number of prisoners of conscience is only going to increase.
Unfortunately, few foreign governments are willing to take on the world’s second largest economy and hold its actions to account.
For instance, I was disheartened by the latest Six-Monthly Report on Hong Kong published by the British foreign secretary, Boris Johnson.
Despite the political persecution of activists like me, he concluded that the “one country, two systems” framework was “working well”. 
As a signatory to the Sino-British joint declaration on Hong Kong, Britain has both a moral and a legal obligation to defend its former subjects and speak up on their behalf.

DAY 27 Tuesday, 12 September 2017
More than one inmate has asked me: “How much do they pay you to do your political stuff?”
At first I thought they just wanted to provoke me with accusations that I take money from foreign governments.
But I’ve slowly realised the questions are genuine.
Most people don’t understand why any sane person would risk prison to do what I do if it wasn’t for money.

DAY 41 Tuesday, 26 September 2017
Today is the third anniversary of my Civic Square siege, the event that set in motion the umbrella movement and a turning point in my life.
This time three years ago, I scaled a metal fence near the government headquarters and called on other protesters to follow me.
I was tackled by a dozen police officers and taken into custody.

Wong (left), with Alex Chow (centre) and Nathan Law outside Hong Kong’s court of final appeal, February 2018. 

DAY 66 Saturday, 21 October 2017
There’s a huge variety of political views here.
The younger prisoners tend to be yellow ribbons.
Several of them have opened up to me about their involvement in the umbrella movement and subsequent protests.
But there are plenty of hardcore blue ribbons too.
Yesterday someone from the security unit pulled me aside and told me that some older guys in the workshop had heckled me and yelled “Traitor” when I walked past.
I received letters from a few university classmates today.
We started in the same year and now they’re about to graduate.
By summer next year they’ll be starting their first jobs, moving ahead in life.

DAY 68 Monday, 23 October 2017
My last day in prison came and went like any other.
By the time I’m released I’ll have spent 69 days behind bars.
They represent an important milestone in my seven-year journey in political activism.
I’ll come out of prison stronger and more committed to our cause than ever.

* * *

In June 2019, on the heels of the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, a controversial fugitive transfer arrangement with China tabled by the government set off a fresh round of protests.
It felt as if it was the umbrella movement all over again, except this time protesters were angrier and more combative.
Young people’s voices went from loud to deafening as they refused to be brushed aside as they had in 2014. Street demonstrations escalated quickly after million person marches failed to move politicians. Peaceful rallies soon gave way to full-scale urban guerrilla warfare.
A new cold war is brewing between China and the rest of the democratic world, and Hong Kong is holding the line in one of its first battles.
Nothing captures that tension more vividly than the moments on 1 October 2019 when live coverage of the 70th anniversary celebrations in Beijing were shown side by side with scenes of demonstrators braving teargas and throwing eggs at Xi Jinping’s portraits on the streets of Hong Kong.
The contrast sends a clear message to the world that China’s tightening grip on Hong Kong is part of a much broader threat to global democracy.
In May 2019, I went to prison for the second time. 
I spent seven weeks at Lai Chi Kok Correctional Institution for violating a court injunction during the umbrella movement.
I tried to comfort my parents and joked that my biggest regret was having to miss the opening night of Avengers: Endgame, the sequel to Avengers: Infinity War. 
Before I headed to prison, a foreign reporter asked me for a soundbite about my second incarceration and China’s crackdown on pro-democracy activists in general.
I thought about the discussion I had with my parents and said: “This isn’t our endgame. Our fight against the CCP is an infinity war.”
The infinity war that has ravaged Hong Kong for years, I am afraid, may be coming soon to a political theatre near you.

• Edited extract from Unfree Speech by Joshua Wong and Jason Y Ng, published by WH Allen (RRP £9.99) on 30 January. To order a copy go to guardianbookshop.com. Free UK p&p over £15.

Hongkongers nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Norwegian lawmaker Guri Melby has nominated the people of Hong Kong for a Nobel Peace Prize.
By Tom Grundy

Norwegian lawmaker Guri Melby

“I have nominated the people of Hong Kong, who risk their lives and security every day to stand up for freedom of speech and basic democracy, to the Nobel Peace Prize for 2020. I hope this will be further encouragement to the movement,” Guri Melby, a politician for Norway’s Liberal Party, said on Twitter.


Guri Melby@gurimelby
I have nominated the people of Hong Kong, who risk their lives and security every day to stand up for freedom of speech and basic democracy, to the Nobel Peace Prize for 2020 I hope this will be further encouragement to the movement: #StandWithHongKong https://www.aftenposten.no/verden/i/opPBrR/partiformannen-truer-med-aa-knuse-dem-og-male-beina-deres-til-stoev-naa-er-de-nominert-til-nobels-fredspris …

Partiformannen truer med å knuse dem og male beina deres til støv. Nå er de nominert til Nobels...
– Jeg håper at dette kan være en oppmuntring til å fortsette kampen på en ikkevoldelig måte, sier stortingspolitikeren Guri Melby (V). Hun har akkurat nominert Hongkong-befolkningen til neste års...aftenposten.no
7,447
14:58 - 15 Oct 2019

“The importance of what they are doing extends far beyond Hong Kong, both in the region and in the rest of the world,” she told newspaper Aftenposten.
City-wide protests against a soon-to-be-scrapped extradition bill have entered their 19th week, as wider anger over police misconduct and demands for democracy engulf the movement.

Melby said she wanted to encourage the movement and urge Hongkongers to continue the fight in a non-violent manner: “I specify that the nomination goes to the movement that is making these demonstrations happen. I was in Hong Kong last week, and people I spoke to there really emphasized that this is a social movement,” she told the newspaper.
Melby was barred from entering the Norwegian parliament in May after donning a t-shirt featuring the Chinese characters for “freedom” during a visit to the country by Chinese Politburo Standing Committee member Li Zhanshu.


Guri Melby@gurimelby
I forrige uke ble han arrestert av politiet da han stod fremst blant demonstrantene. I dag møtte jeg Ted Hui her i Hongkong, folkevalgt for Venstres søsterparti The Democratic Party. Vi snakket om hvorfor folket tar til gatene mot myndighetene, og desperasjonen mange føler på.

96
16:56 - 23 Sep 2019

Last year, twelve United States lawmakers nominated activists Joshua Wong, Nathan Law, Alex Chow and the Umbrella Movement for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Joshua Wong: World's pro-democracy poster child

Joshua Wong is hailed as one of the world's most influential figures by Time, Fortune and Foreign Policy magazines.
By Jerome TAYLOR

Joshua Wong is one of the most prominent faces in Hong Kong's leaderless pro-democracy movement.

Joshua Wong, the Hong Kong activist soon to visit the United States, was the unlikely hero of the Umbrella Movement that inspired hundreds of thousands to take over Hong Kong's streets for 79 days in 2014 calling for free elections.
Five years later, the 22-year-old is one of the most prominent faces in the city's leaderless pro-democracy movement, often seen on rallies, locked up by police and individually called out by the Chinese government.
Scrawny, with gaunt features and a studious frown, Wong has now taken his fight around the globe, recently meeting with politicians in Taiwan, holding talks in Berlin with the German foreign minister, and has speaking engagements scheduled in the United States.
Since Hong Kong's mass protests began earlier this year, he has been in and out of custody and was among several high-profile activists rounded up in August, a day before the fifth anniversary of Beijing's rejection of a call for universal suffrage in the city which sparked the 79-day Umbrella Movement.
The arrests were seen as a chilling warning to the current movement.

Activist at 13
Wong spearheaded the Umbrella protests alongside fellow student leaders Nathan Law and Alex Chow, and his speeches and calls for civil disobedience electrified the crowds but the movement failed to win any concessions from China or Hong Kong's pro-Beijing leaders.
He captured the attention of the world in his casting as David against the Goliath of the Chinese Communist Party, and was hailed as one of the world's most influential figures by Time, Fortune and Foreign Policy magazines.
He even became the subject of the Netflix documentary "Teenager vs Superpower", released in 2017.
Born to middle-class Christian parents Grace and Roger Wong, he began his life of activism aged just 13 with a protest against plans for a high-speed rail link between Hong Kong and the mainland.
At the age of just 15, Wong campaigned successfully for Hong Kong to drop a pro-China "National Education" programme, rallying a crowd of 120,000 to blockade the city's parliament for 10 days.
In many ways, he pioneered a method of demonstration that has since been embraced by Hong Kong's current protest movement -- seizing streets in non-violent civil disobedience -- after years of peaceful rallies failed to achieve much.
But he has paid for his activism: prosecutors came after him and many of the Umbrella Movement's leaders.

Joshua Wong and German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.

'The city I love'
In May, he was sentenced to two months in prison on a contempt charge after pleading guilty to obstructing the clearance of a major protest camp in 2014.
He was also convicted in a second case related to the storming of a government forecourt during the 2014 protests.
He spent some time behind bars for that case, but in the end the city's top court ruled that community service was sufficient punishment.
He went on to found the political party Demosisto, which campaigns for more self-determination for Hong Kong but not independence -- a clear red line for Beijing.
Wong's demands have been both consistent and fairly simple: that Hong Kongers should get to decide their city's fate, not Communist Party officials in Beijing.
Since the end of the Umbrella Movement, he has been denied entry into Malaysia and Thailand, attacked in the street, and abused by pro-China protesters in Taiwan. 

But he has said he will fight on.
In an article written for Time from prison in June, he wrote: "My lack of freedom today is a price I knew I would have to pay for the city I love."
He stepped back into the fray shortly after when authorities released him just one month into his prison term, immediately calling for Hong Kong's pro-Beijing leader Carrie Lam to step down over her role pushing for the controversial extradition proposal that sparked the current wave of protests.
Authorities did not confirm whether the decision was procedural or a gesture to protestors.
After the bill was eventually scrapped in early September, Wong vowed to fight on, deeming its withdrawal "Too little, too late".
"Our determination and courage to fight for freedom will still continue," he said. 

"Hong Kongers deserve universal suffrage. We deserve to elect our own government."

Joshua Wong and other Occupy leaders nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Joshua Wong and fellow activists Nathan Law and Alex Chow have their names put forward to committee in Oslo for their peaceful efforts to bring political reform and self-determination to city
By Ng Kang-chung

A US congressional group has nominated Hong Kong activist Joshua Wong Chi-fung and two allies who led the 2014 Occupy protests for the Nobel Peace Prize.
The names of Joshua Wong, Nathan Law Kwun-chung and Alex Chow Yong-kang, as well as the entire campaign popularly known as the “umbrella movement”, were put forward to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Oslo by a group of 12 US congressmen.
This is the first time there has been a nominee from Hong Kong.
But the news is likely to ruffle feathers in Beijing, which sees the West’s support of the Hong Kong democracy movement as interference in China’s domestic affairs.
The submission was made “in recognition of [the trio’s] peaceful efforts to bring political reform and self-determination to Hong Kong and protect the autonomy and freedom guaranteed Hong Kong in the Sino-British Joint Declaration”, according to a letter by the congressmen to the committee.
According to the statutes of the Nobel Foundation, qualified nominators include members of national assemblies and national governments, university professors and rectors, as well as former peace prize winners.
If selected, Wong, 21, could become the second youngest Nobel laureate; Law, 24, the third; and Chow, 27, the fifth.
Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 at the age of 17, is the youngest to have received the award.
In their letter dated January 31 – the last day of the nomination period – the congressmen highlighted the trio’s “leadership roles” in the Occupy campaign through which “other pro-democracy politicians and supporters … took part in the largest pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong’s history”.
The three activists were also praised for their demonstration of “civic courage, extraordinary leadership and an unwavering commitment to a free and prosperous Hong Kong that upholds the rule of law, political freedoms and human rights”.
The 2014 mass sit-ins saw major roads in downtown Hong Kong blocked by tens of thousands of protesters voicing opposition to Beijing’s restrictive framework on a plan for Hongkongers to elect the city’s leader.
Umbrellas became an icon of the campaign as they were used by protesters to shield themselves against pepper spray by police.
The campaign however ended up going nowhere and was dissolved after 79 days.
Subsequently, some of the key Occupy activists, including Wong, Law and Chow, were charged and jailed for various imaginary offences.
The congressmen said in their letter: “Wong, Law and Chow and the entire ‘umbrella movement’ embody the peaceful aspirations of the people of Hong Kong who yearn to see their autonomy and way of life protected and their democratic aspirations fulfilled.
“The umbrella movement and its leadership are acting in the long tradition of previous Nobel Peace Prize laureates who captured the imagination of their fellow countrymen and sought principled and peaceful change from within.”
The congressmen also highlighted the subsequent jailing of the trio and Law’s disqualification as a lawmaker “after the Chinese central government issued an interpretation of the Basic Law deeming certain previously acceptable oath-taking behaviours … as punishable by disqualification”.
The Basic Law is Hong Kong’s mini-constitution.

Republican senator Marco Rubio

“Joshua Wong’s sentiments on Twitter immediately after the announcement of his prison sentence capture well the optimistic and persistent spirit that animates their efforts: ‘The government can lock up our bodies but they cannot lock up our minds! We want democracy in Hong Kong. And we will not give up.’”
The letter was jointly signed by 12 congressmen, including Republican senator Marco Rubio and representative Christopher Smith, as well as four of their colleagues in the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, of which Rubio and Smith are chairman and co-chairman respectively.
Last year, the commission highlighted in its annual report the deterioration of human rights in China and also expressed concern over Hong Kong’s press freedom as well as the disqualification of lawmakers.
Rubio and Smith then also stated their intention to nominate the three activists and the entire “umbrella movement” for the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize.
Calling the trio “champions of peace and freedom and Hong Kong’s entire pro-democracy movement”, the congressmen also noted the Nobel Committee’s “past willingness to brave the displeasure and outright retribution” of China in awarding the prize to political dissident Liu Xiaobo in 2010.
Liu was jailed for what Beijing called “inciting subversion of state power”.
Mainland authorities criticised the awarding of the prize to him as “politically motivated”.
The laureate was barred from going to accept his prize.
His absence was marked at the ceremony by an empty chair.
Liu died last year, becoming the first Nobel Peace Prize recipient to perish in custody since German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky, who died in 1938 after years in a Nazi concentration camp.
The Nobel laureates are to be selected by the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Winners will be announced in October, with the awards ceremony in December.
Law Yuk-kai, director of Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, said the trio deserved the recognition.
“Participants in the ‘umbrella movement’ insisted on making the campaign peaceful and orderly – that deserves international recognition,” Law said.
“If they win the prize, Hong Kong’s social movements will enjoy the moral high ground.”

Rogue Nation

Tens of thousands march to defend Hong Kong's rule of law against China
By James Pomfret

Pro-democracy activists carry a banner reading "anti-authority, against suppression", during a protest on China's National Day in Hong Kong, China October 1, 2017. 

HONG KONG -- Tens of thousands marched in China-ruled Hong Kong on Sunday in an “anti authoritarian rule” march that called for the resignation of the city’s top legal official over the recent jailing of young democracy activists.
The march, an annual fixture over the past few years on China’s October 1 National Day, comes at a time of nascent disillusionment with Hong Kong’s once vaunted judiciary.
“Without democracy, how can we have the rule of law,” the crowds yelled as they marched through sporadic downpours, from a muddy pitch to the city’s harbor-front government headquarters.
Organizers estimated about 40,000 people joined the march.
Many protesters, some clad in black, expressed dismay with Hong Kong’s Secretary of Justice, Rimsky Yuen, who Reuters reported had over-ruled several other senior public prosecutors to seek jail terms for three prominent democrats: Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow.
“We believe he (Yuen) has been the key orchestrator in destroying Hong Kong’s justice,” said Avery Ng, one of the organizers of the rally that drew a coalition of some 50 civil and political groups.
Around one hundred Hong Kong activists are now facing possible jail terms for various acts of mostly democratic advocacy including the “Umbrella Revolution” in late 2014 that saw tens of thousands of people block major roads for 79 days in a push for universal suffrage.

RULE OF LAW

Pro-democracy activists carry a banner reading "no fear", during a protest on China's National Day in Hong Kong, China October 1, 2017.

While the October 1 march is a regular annual fixture, this was the first time the rule of law has been scrutinized like this, with the judiciary -- a legacy of the British Common Law system -- long considered one of the best in Asia and a cornerstone of Hong Kong’s economic success.
“It’s like mainland (Chinese) laws have intruded into Hong Kong,” said Alex Ha, a teacher of classical guitar, who was walking alone in the crowd.
The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index last week downgraded Hong Kong’s judicial independence ranking by five spots to number 13 in the world.

In response, however, Yuen stressed at the time that Hong Kong’s judiciary remained strong and independent.
“We cannot rely on subjective perceptions, we have to look at the facts,” he told reporters.
Hong Kong, a former British colony, returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the promise that Beijing would grant the city a high degree of autonomy and an independent judiciary under a so-called “one country, two systems” arrangement.

But over two decades of Chinese rule, differences have deepened between Communist Party leaders in Beijing and a younger generation of democracy advocates, some of whom are now calling for the financial hub to eventually split from China.

Britain cannot shirk its duty to defend Hong Kong from China's authoritarianism

Arrests of pro-democracy activists show China is breaching its commitments to the “one country, two systems” agreement.
BY CATHERINE WEST

When Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in June that the Sino-British Joint Declaration no longer has any “practical significance”, shivers were sent down the spines of those who want democracy to flourish in Hong Kong.
“It is not at all binding for the central government's management over Hong Kong. The UK has no sovereignty, no power to rule and no power to supervise Hong Kong after the handover,” he said.

Going by the British government's failure to respond firmly to the jailing of Joshua Wong, Nathan Law and Alex Chow for standing up for democracy, it appears the UK agrees.
The Sino-British Joint Declaration, signed in 1984, was committed to the “one country, two systems” principle, making Hong Kong a Special Administrative Region of China but ensuring a range of freedoms, which future British governments would ensure were upheld.
China’s creeping influence over Hong Kong’s legal affairs and freedom of speech are not new. 

Earlier this year, Amnesty International said the human rights situation in Hong Kong was at its worst since the handover in 1997. 

That assessment followed the disappearance of five Hong Kong booksellers, later found to have been in the custody of the Chinese police, with one describing having been blindfolded and kept in a tiny cell. 

In other instances journalists have been attacked by police.
But in Hong Kong, resistance is on display in familiar scenes on the streets. 

Tens of thousands of people have marched through the financial and legal hub in protest at the jailing of the three pro-democracy activists for their role in the Umbrella Revolution in 2014 – a fundamentally peaceful movement.
It was a moment where people came out to fight for universal suffrage, which I continue to support as key to safeguarding the island’s stability and prosperity (and something Hong Kong’s Basic Law secures by stating that the chief executive should be selected by “by universal suffrage upon nomination by a broadly representative nominating committee in accordance with democratic procedures”).
For showing courage in fighting for universal suffrage, Wong has already served 80 hours of community service and Law 120 hours. 

Chow received a three-week suspended prison sentence a year ago.

Yet now Wong has been jailed for six months, Chow for seven months and Law for eight months.
Wong was even summoned again to court today for an ongoing contempt charge related to the 2014 "Occupy" pro-democracy protests.
Perhaps more importantly, Wong is now not eligible to stand for the legislative council for five years due to his six-month jail sentence, while Law, who was a member of the council, was removed from office.
This all comes after a 2016 order from Beijing for Hong Kong’s government to dismiss officials thought lacking in their allegiance to China, which led to six legislators being banned from holding office.
Many, including Hong Kong’s last Governor, Chris Patten, have suggested Wong, Law and Chow's sentences were a deliberate attempt to prevent them from taking on these legislative positions.
Patten added that he hopes friends of Hong Kong will speak out, having previously written the UK is “selling its honour” to secure trade deals with China, letting down pro-democracy activists who have been trying to fight to maintain freedoms that were guaranteed during the deal that ended over 100 years of British rule.
The prising open of the case by the Hong Kong government to push for tougher punishments reinforces concerns about Beijing’s willingness to interfere in Hong Kong’s democracy. 

As Amnesty International stated, seeking jail terms was a “vindictive attack” on freedom of expression.
China’s enthusiasm for subverting democracy has recently been on show in its attempts to censor Cambridge University Press (CUP), which initially complied with a Chinese request to block access to more than 300 articles from the China Quarterly, a leading China studies journal, including articles on Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution and the Tiananmen Square Massacre. 

Following public pressure CUP have now reversed their position.
But while freedoms granted under the Joint Declaration may have contributed to Hong Kong becoming fertile ground for those supportive of democracy and critical of China, it does not free the United Kingdom from its responsibility to uphold the “one country, two systems” principle, which promises extensive autonomy and freedoms to the island, except in the area of foreign relations and military defence.
The Joint Declaration is a legally binding treaty. 

It is registered with the UN and is still in force. 

As the UK is a co-signatory, it should be doing all it can to make sure it is upheld.
Yet, in late June one of Hong Kong’s most respected democracy activists Martin Lee described the British government as "just awful. I’m afraid I cannot find any kind words to say about that.”
It is not for either China or the UK to unilaterally decide the Joint Declaration is null and void. 

The people of Hong Kong understand that and are standing up for democracy in the face of adversity. Our Government has a duty to stand by them.

Thousands march in Hong Kong for release of pro-democracy leaders

In sweltering heat, protesters wear brown prison uniforms in homage to jailed Alex Chow, Nathan Law and Joshua Wong
By Tom Phillips in Beijing

People march in support of the imprisoned pro-democracy leaders in Hong Kong. 

Thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets of Hong Kong – some clad in prison uniforms – to demand the release of three of the former British colony’s best-known pro-democracy leaders.

Alex Chow, Nathan Law and Joshua Wong – key leaders of 2014’s umbrella movement protests – were jailed for between six and eight months on Thursday for their involvement in an “unlawful assembly” that helped launch those historic demonstrations.
Supporters have denounced the court’s ruling as a politically motivated attack on the semi-autonomous city’s democracy movement while Hong Kong’s last governor, Chris Patten, called it a deplorable decision that would deepen fears about Beijing’s erosion of the territory’s freedoms.
Police said about 22,000 demonstrators joined the march across Hong Kong island – from Wan Chai to the court of final appeal in its financial centre – on Sunday afternoon to voice their anger, local broadcaster RTHK reported.
Despite sweltering heat, some protesters wore brown prison uniforms in homage to the trio of jailed campaigners and 13 other activists who were also imprisoned earlier in the week.

Thousands of people take to the streets in Hong Kong. 

“I’m trying to send the message that if you fight for human rights, democracy and the rule of law, then it is a crime. And if it’s a crime, then we are all criminals,” said Claudia Mo, a pro-democracy legislator, who was among the marchers. 

“I believe they are prisoners of conscience,” Mo said.
Others came carrying banners that read: “Free all political prisoners”, “One prisoner of conscience is one too many” and “It’s not a crime to fight against totalitarianism”.
“In the past when we chanted ‘release political prisoners,’ we were referring to [those in mainland China] ... but now it’s Hong Kong,” Derek Lam, a local pro-democracy activist, told the protest.
Ray Chan, another pro-democracy legislator, said: “We want to let those who have been jailed and those who are facing political prosecution know that they are not alone. What they have done was righteous and Hong Kongers do not believe they deserved what they got.
“Some have said the democracy movement has stalled. Today we are sending a strong message to those in power that the movement never dies. I came out today to tell those in power that we are united and we are not afraid.”
A photograph of the protest was posted on Wong’s Twitter account:

Hong Kong’s government has scotched claims politics was behind the decision to jail the trio. Matthew Cheung, the city’s number-two official, blamed those allegations on “bias in the views of foreign media”.
However, democracy campaigners are convinced the activists were imprisoned to stop them running for office during the next five years. 

Mo claimed the decision to jail Chow, Law and Wong was part of “Beijing’s grand plan” to cripple the pro-democracy camp and strip Hong Kong of its freedoms. 

But she insisted the plan would fail because of the passion of the city’s increasingly politicised youth. “We will have many more Joshua Wongs coming along,” she said.
In a letter to the Financial Times (paywall), Lord Patten said locking the trio up would fail to curtail Hong Kong’s ambitions for greater democracy. 

“It will surely have the opposite effect,” he wrote. 

“The names of Joshua Wong, Alex Chow and Nathan Law will be remembered long after the names of those who have persecuted them have been forgotten and swept into the ashcan of history.”
Speaking to RTHK, Eddie Chu, another pro-democracy legislator, said it was time for Hong Kong’s activists to abandon their computer screens and “pour [on to] the street” in protest.

Rogue Nation

Hong Kong’s rapid descent into repression


Pro-democracy activists Joshua Wong, right, and Nathan Law, left, speak outside the high court in Hong Kong on Thursday. They were sentenced to six to eight months in prison. 

IN 2014, as Hong Kong erupted into protests calling for free elections, Joshua Wong emerged as the face of the city’s pro-democracy Umbrella Movement. 

Just 17 years old at the time, he led demonstrators as they marched on a fenced government square and organized weeks of sit-ins thereafter. 

In the years since, he has continued to champion democratic reform, establishing a student-led political party that won a seat on the legislative council. 

Apparently, this was more than Beijing and the pro-China local government could bear: On Thursday, Mr. Wong and two other activists, Alex Chow and Nathan Law, were sentenced to six to eight months in prison for their role in the peaceful protests.
Thursday’s ruling overturns lighter penalties handed down last year. 

Mr. Wong and Mr. Law were initially sentenced to community service, and Mr. Chow was given a suspended sentence. 

That the Hong Kong government pressed forward with prosecution was troubling enough, but its decision to appeal the original penalties and push for jail time is particularly vindictive. 

It is also politically self-serving: Hong Kong law prohibits people sentenced to more than three months in prison from running for office for five years. 

By cracking down on three rising political stars, the pro-Beijing establishment has managed to cripple its opposition and discourage further criticism.
The sentences send a chilling message that speech and assembly are only permitted in the city if they support the status quo. 

This strikes at many Hong Kong residents’ deepest fear: that the local government has become an extension of Beijing. 

When Hong Kong was officially transferred from British to Chinese rule in 1997, it was on the condition that China would allow the city a measure of autonomy and democracy. 

Hong Kong has long prided itself on its independent judiciary and system of self-rule. 

It is becoming increasingly clear, however, that the local leadership is willing to jettison these principles.
Over the past three years, Beijing and its loyalists in Hong Kong have restricted the field of candidates allowed to run for chief executive; reached across borders to detain five Hong Kong booksellers who stocked politically sensitive books; cracked down on street protesters calling for democracy; and stacked the deck to elect a pro-China leader, Carrie Lam, who trailed in public opinion polls. 

Most recently, Chinese lawmakers reinterpreted Hong Kong’s charter to disqualify four pro-democracy legislators for peacefully protestingduring their swearing-in ceremony. 

Thursday’s decision should not be seen in isolation but as part of Hong Kong’s rapid descent into political repression.
What is especially sad about this crackdown is that it is so self-defeating: Both China and Hong Kong would benefit from a city that upholds the rule of law and promises a stable environment for investment. 

The more Hong Kong embraces authoritarianism, the less vibrant and prosperous it will be.

A letter to China: Hong Kong's democrats should be honoured

An open letter from political figures around the world calls on Beijing to free three jailed pro-democracy activists

Pro-democracy activists Nathan Law (L), Joshua Wong (C) and Alex Chow (R), who were jailed on Friday. 

The decision by the courts in Hong Kong to sentence three courageous, principled young men to jail yesterday is an outrageous miscarriage of justice, a death knell for Hong Kong’s rule of law and basic human rights, and a severe blow to the principles of “one country, two systems” on which Hong Kong was returned to China 20 years ago.
Joshua Wong, Alex Chow and Nathan Law helped lead the umbrella movement in Hong Kong in 2014 – one of the most peaceful and restrained movements of public protest the world has ever seen. Joshua Wong and Nathan Law have already served the penalties imposed by a court a year ago. Joshua Wong served 80 hours of community service and Nathan Law 120 hours. 

Alex Chow received a three-week suspended prison sentence a year ago. Yet the Hong Kong government decided to reopen the case and seek tougher punishments. 

Yesterday the court of appeal jailed Joshua Wong for six months, Alex Chow for seven months and Nathan Law for eight months.
Joshua Wong turns 21 in October, an age where he could be eligible to stand for election to the legislativecouncil. 

However, his eligibility is automatically now removed as a result of a six-month jail sentence. 

Nathan Law, aged 24, was elected as the youngest ever member of the legislative council a year ago, but was removed from his seat earlier this year on the grounds that he failed to take his oath properly. Alex Chow is 27 and has recently completed his studies at the London School of Economics.
Yesterday’s verdict is not only outrageously unjust because these three young men had already served their sentences and because it strikes a severe blow to Hong Kong’s freedoms, but also because it robs three bright, intelligent, principled and courageous young men of more than half a year of their lives and potentially denies them a future in politics or other employment in Hong Kong.
The three student leaders were charged for leading a peaceful sit-in that triggered the 79-day pro-democracy umbrella movement in 2014. 

At that time, the Hong Kong government described the demonstrations as illegal, invoking the public order ordinance, which has been criticised by the United Nations human rights committee for “facilitat[ing] excessive restrictions” to basic rights. 

The law, which requires that processions involving more than 30 people and assemblies with more than 50 must apply for and receive a “letter of no objection” from the government in advance, is incompatible with article 21 of the international covenant on civil and political rights (ICCPR), which applies to Hong Kong. 

Human rights organisations such as Human Rights Watch have long urged Hong Kong authorities to revise the ordinance to comply with the ICCPR. 

According to Human Rights Watch, imposing new punishments on Joshua Wong and Nathan Law, who had already completed their sentences of community service, may violate article 14(7) of the ICCPR, which enunciates the principle of “double jeopardy” that no one shall be “punished again” for the same offence.
In a series of tweets Joshua Wong exhibited his courage even upon learning of his sentence. 

He wrote: “You can lock up our bodies, but not our minds! We want democracy in Hong Kong. And we will not give up. They can silence protests, remove us from the legislature and lock us up. But they will not win the hearts and minds of Hong Kongers. Imprisoning us will not extinguish Hongkongers’ desire for universal suffrage. We are stronger, more determined, and we will win.”
As former heads of government, parliamentarians, lawyers and civil society leaders, we stand in solidarity with these three brave young men, we condemn yesterday’s verdict by the court of appeal, we call for it to be reviewed and for these three political prisoners to be released, and we urge the international community to put pressure on the governments of the People’s Republic of China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region to respect the principles of “one country, two systems” and the Basic Law in Hong Kong.
Joshua Wong, Alex Chow and Nathan Law should be honoured, encouraged and supported, not jailed.
Yesterday was a dark day for Hong Kong and it should be met with international condemnation.

The Rt Hon Lord Alton of Liverpool Independent crossbench peer, House of Lords, United Kingdom
The Rt Hon Lord Ashdown of Norton-sub-Hamden Former leader of the Liberal Democrats, former UN high representative in Bosnia, UK
His Eminence Cardinal Charles Maung Bo Archbishop of Yangon, Myanmar
Fiona Bruce MP Chair of the Conservative party human rights commission, UK
Andrew Khoo Co-chairperson, human rights committee, Bar Council Malaysia
The Hon David Kilgour Former Canadian secretary of state for Asia-Pacific, former member of parliament and Nobel peace prize nominee 2010, Canada
Mohamed Nasheed Former president of the Maldives
The Hon Consiglio Di Nino Former senator, Canada
Grover Joseph Rees United States ambassador (retired), US
The Rt Hon Sir Malcolm Rifkind Former foreign secretary, United Kingdom
Charles Santiago Member of parliament, Malaysia
Congressman Christopher Smith Member of the United States Congress and co-chair of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, US
Charles Tannock MEP Member of the European parliament
Alissa Wahid Daughter of former president Abdurrahman Wahid and founder of the Gusdurian Network, Indonesia
Zarganar Comedian and former political prisoner, Myanmar
John Dayal Writer and activist, India
John McCarthy Former Australian ambassador to the Holy See
Sir Geoffrey Nice QC Former chief prosecutor in the trial of Slobodan Milosevic, UK
Janelle Saffin Former member of parliament, Australia
Jonathan Aitken Former member of parliament, cabinet minister and author, UK
Sonja Biserko Human rights campaigner, Serbia, and former member of the UN Commission of Inquiry on North Korea
David Matas Human rights lawyer, Canada
Catherine West MP Former shadow foreign minister, UK

Freedom Fighters

A Nobel Prize for Hong Kong’s Democrats
By BARI WEISS

Leaders of the “Umbrella Movement” Nathan Law, left, and Joshua Wong, center, at a rally in Hong Kong on Wednesday. 

Here’s a suggestion for the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, which opens its nominating season next month: Look to the three young men who earlier today became Hong Kong’s first prisoners of conscience.
In 2014, the courageous trio helped lead what become known as the Umbrella Movement — an enormous political protest defending Hong Kong’s freedoms from an increasingly aggressive Beijing. Like Andrei Sakharov, Vaclav Havel, Aung San Suu Kyi and so many dissidents that came before them, the men were hit with a bogus charge (“unlawful assembly”), were found guilty and served out their punishments last year.
But today, Hong Kong’s Department of Justice decided that those penalties were too lenient.
Joshua Wong, who burst onto the city’s political scene at 14 years old and is the public face of its democracy movement, was sentenced to six months. 

Nathan Law and Alex Chow were sentenced to seven and eight months, respectively. 

All three had budding political careers, but these new sentences bar them from running for public office for the next five years.
As Mr. Wong put it to a reporter from The New York Times before his sentencing: “The government wanted to stop us from running in elections and directly suppress our movement.” 

He added: “There’s no longer rule of law in Hong Kong. It’s rule by law.” 

Just so.
The implications of their imprisonment are monumental. 

Since Britain handed over jurisdiction of its former colony to China 20 years ago, the city has operated under the notion of “one country, two systems.” 

That increasingly appears to be an empty slogan. 

“The outcome isn’t just a travesty for these three peaceful pro-democracy activists or free speech — it’s also a painfully clear sign that Beijing’s political dictates are eating away at Hong Kong’s judiciary, an institution essential to the territory’s autonomy,” Sophie Richardson, the China director of Human Rights Watch, told me.
Derek Lam, Mr. Wong’s best friend and a key activist in the movement, put it even more bluntly in a call from Hong Kong: “The court of Hong Kong is a slave of the Chinese government.” 

He added: “The judge doesn’t acknowledge that democracy, freedom and human rights are the reasons Joshua is doing this. He just kept insisting that they were inciting violence.”

Mr. Lam, who aspires to become a pastor, could soon be accused of the same: Next month he faces sentencing for his role in a 2016 protest.

“I am heartbroken. All my friends went to jail today. I might join them next month,” he told me. 

“But we will never regret what we have done. What we are doing is correct. It is the truth. And we will persist.” 

That relentless spirit was echoed by Mr. Law, Mr. Chow and Mr. Wong today. 

As Mr. Wong, just 20 years old, put it on Twitter before he was jailed: “You can lock up our bodies, but not our minds! We want democracy in Hong Kong. And we will not give up.”
The battle these young people are waging is far bigger than their futures — or even than Hong Kong itself. 

They are among some of the most prominent leaders pushing an authoritarian China to honor its international and political commitments. 

Can a handful of Davids hold a Goliath to account? 

The imprimatur of a Nobel Prize would help.

Hong Kong democracy campaigners jailed over anti-China protests

Alex Chow, Nathan Law, and Joshua Wong given six to eight month sentences for roles in anti-government occupation known as the umbrella movement
By Tom Phillips in Beijing

Joshua Wong (L) and Alex Chow, leaders of Hong Kong’s ‘Umbrella Movement’, before their court appearance.

Hong Kong’s democracy movement has suffered the latest setback in what has been a punishing year after three of its most influential young leaders were jailed for their roles in a protest at the start of a 79-day anti-government occupation known as the umbrella movement.
Alex Chow, Nathan Law, and Joshua Wong, the bespectacled student dubbed Hong Kong’s “face of protest” were sentenced to between six and eight months imprisonment each.
The trio, aged 26, 24 and 20 respectively, had avoided jail a year ago after being convicted of taking part in or inciting an “illegal assembly” that helped spark the umbrella protests, in late September 2014. 

But this month Hong Kong’s department of justice called for those sentences to be reconsidered, with one senior prosecutor attacking the “rather dangerous” leniency he claimed had been shown to the activists.
“See you soon,” Wong tweeted shortly after the verdict was announced.
In another message he wrote: “Imprisoning us will not extinguish Hongkonger’s desire for universal suffrage. We are stronger, more determined, and we will win.”
“You can lock up our bodies, but not our minds! We want democracy in Hong Kong. And we will not give up.”
The decision to increase the activists’ punishments sparked outrage among supporters and campaigners who condemned what they called the latest example of Beijing’s bid to snuff out peaceful challenges to its rule.
“It smacks of political imprisonment, plain and simple,” said Jason Ng, the author of Umbrellas in Bloom, a book about Hong Kong’s youth protest movement.
Mabel Au, Amnesty International’s director in Hong Kong, said: “The relentless and vindictive pursuit of student leaders using vague charges smacks of political payback by the authorities.”
There was also criticism from the United States where Republican senator Marco Rubio attacked the decision as “shameful and further evidence that Hong Kong’s cherished autonomy is precipitously eroding”.
“Joshua Wong, Nathan Law, Alex Chow and other umbrella movement protesters are pro-democracy champions worthy of admiration, not criminals deserving jail time,” said Rubio, who heads the congressional-executive commission on China.

“Beijing’s heavy hand is on display for all to see as they attempt to crush the next generation of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement,” he added.
Speaking before the verdict, Wong told the Guardian he was sure he would be jailed since the decision to seek stiffer punishments was driven by politics, not legal arguments. 

“It’s a political prosecution,” he said. 

“It is the darkest era for Hong Kong because we are the first generation of umbrella movement leaders being sent to prison.”
Wong claimed the decision to use the courts to crack down on umbrella activists showed China’s one-party rulers had managed to transform the former British colony, once a rule-of-law society, into a place of “authoritarian rule by law”.
“No one would like to go to prison but I have to use this as a chance to show the commitment of Hong Kong’s young activists,” he said. 

“It is really a cold winter for Hong Kong’s democracy movement – but things that cannot defeat us will make us stronger.”
Thursday’s controversial ruling caps a torrid year for the pro-democracy camp of this semi-autonomous Chinese city, which returned to Beijing’s control on 1 July 1997 after 156 years of colonial rule.
During a June visit marking the 20th anniversary of handover, Xi Jinping oversaw a tub-thumping military parade which observers said underscored the increasingly hardline posture Beijing was now taking towards Hong Kong amid an upsurge in support for independence. 

“The implication is: ‘We will come out in the streets and put you down if we have to,’” the political blogger Suzanne Pepper said at the time.
A fortnight later, the democracy movement suffered a body blow when four pro-democracy lawmakers, including Law, were ejected from Hong Kong’s parliament for using their oath-taking ceremonies to thumb their noses at Beijing. 

That decision robbed the pro-democracy camp of its veto power over major legislation.
In an interview with the Guardian, Law, who had been the youngest person elected to Hong Kong’s legislature, said the disqualifications were an attempt by Beijing to “suppress the more progressive voices in Hong Kong”.
“I won’t give up fighting. If Liu Xiaobo can persist under much harsher circumstances, so can we,” Law vowed, referring to the late democracy icon who died in Chinese custody last month, becoming the first Nobel peace prize winner to perish in custody since German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky, who died in 1938 after years in Nazi concentration camps.
On Tuesday, 13 umbrella activists were jailed for storming Hong Kong’s parliament in 2014, a decision Human Rights Watch condemned as part of a surge in politically motivated prosecutions.
Ng, the author, said he believed the decision to jail Wong and Law was deliberately designed to stop them running for office later this year in local byelections. 

Their imprisonment was not intended to deter violence or social disorder but to crack down on “the willingness of young, idealistic people to engage politically”.
“[These sentences] significantly increase the cost of dissent in Hong Kong,” Ng warned. 

“From now on, protesters will need to think about the possibility of getting locked up for months or even years.
“It has an enormous chilling effect … especially on young people, and sends a strong message to them that they should shut up or else.”
Speaking on Wednesday night, Wong said he would not be silenced, even behind bars where he planned to spend his time reading novels, studying and writing columns about politics.
Wong also used his final hours of freedom to send a message to Xi: “Please respect the desires of Hong Kong people. The people are united and they will never stop.”