Hong Kong: Agnes Chow denied bail after appealing sentence

Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Agnes Chow was denied bail on Wednesday pending an appeal against her 10-month jail sentence on charges of unauthorised assembly during anti-government protests last year.

The 24-year old activist was sentenced on December 2 along with Joshua Wong for their roles in an unlawful rally near police headquarters in 2019, the toughest and most high-profile sentencing of opposition figures this year.

Chow’s hearing followed the arrest of about 16 activists since Monday, part of a relentless crackdown on opposition forces in the self-governing territory.

Critics say Hong Kong’s Beijing-backed government is curtailing opposition and wide-ranging freedoms guaranteed after the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997, a charge authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong reject.

Chow, along with Wong and Nathan Law, founded the now-disbanded democracy group Demosisto in 2016.

The party was dissolved hours after Beijing passed a contentious national security law for the city on June 30 amid fears it could be targeted under the legislation.

More charges possible

Chow was also arrested in August under the new security legislation on suspicion of “colluding with foreign forces,” but is yet to face any charges.

Under the national security law, Beijing punishes what it broadly defines as sedition, secession, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces with up to life in jail.

Chow has been on the Hong Kong government’s radar for years.

In 2018, Hong Kong election authorities sparked a political storm after banning Chow in a legislative council by-election that year.

Chow was seeking to become the city’s youngest-ever lawmaker by contesting the Hong Kong Island constituency seat vacated by then-Demosisto chairman Nathan Law, who is now living in exile in the United Kingdom.