香港：反政府抗議領袖周庭放棄保釋

Recently BBC News on-line reported the following:

Hong Kong: Protest leader Agnes Chow jumps bail

Vicky Wong - BBC News

Mon, December 4, 2023 at 10:06 a.m. GMT+8

Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Agnes Chow says she is jumping bail and will not be returning home from her studies in Canada.

Ms. Chow was jailed in 2020 for taking part in the anti-government protests of 2019, and was released in 2021.

She is still under investigation for "collusion with foreign forces to endanger national security".

Local media reported that Hong Kong police "strongly condemns" the 27-year-old's actions.

It also urged her not to "take the road of no return by remaining a fugitive for the rest of her life", Hong Kong broadcaster TVB said in a report on Monday.

In two Instagram posts published on Sunday to mark her 27th birthday, Ms Chow revealed that she was admitted by a university in Toronto earlier this year. She left for Toronto in mid-September.

But in order to get her passport back, she had to go on a police-escorted trip to mainland China in August with five police officers - a trip she had no right to refuse.

"I felt as though I was under surveillance the whole time," she wrote.

She said she was shown an exhibition of China's achievements since the reform and opening up of the country since the late 1970s, as well as the headquarters of the technology firm Tencent where she was asked to pose for photos.

"If I stay silent, those pictures might one day become evidence of my "patriotism" - that fear is so tangible," she wrote.

Ms. Chow said when she returned to Hong Kong, she was also told to sign letters expressing remorse for all her past political actions, and also to thank the police for organizing the trip, so that she could learn of "the motherland's marvelous developments".

Ms. Chow was expected to report to the police again later this month as she is still under investigation in connection to pro-democracy media tycoon Jimmy Lai's trial on allegations of "collusion with foreign forces" to endanger China's national security. She has not yet been charged.

She said her decision was made after much consideration of "Hong Kong's situation, my personal safety, my physical and mental health".

"Maybe I won't return to Hong Kong for the rest of my life," Ms Chow added.

Ms. Chow was one of the most prominent faces of the city's pro-democracy movement and was even nicknamed "the real Mulan", in reference to the legendary Chinese heroine who fought to save her family and country.

In 2020, she was featured on the BBC 100 Women list, which names 100 influential and inspirational women around the world every year and tells their stories.

Authorities in Hong Kong have cracked down on pro-democracy activists in the city since anti-government protests broke out in 2019, culminating in the implementation of the controversial national security law in 2020.

Translation

香港民主運動家周庭表示，她正在放棄保釋，不會從加拿大學業中返回香港。

周女士因參加2019年的反政府抗議活動於2020年入獄，並於2021年獲釋。

她目前仍以「勾結境外勢力危害國家安全」罪被調查。

當地媒體報道稱，香港警方「強烈譴責」這名27歲人士的行為。

香港無線電視週一在一份報導中表示，香港警方還敦促她不要「走上一輩子逃亡的不歸路」。

週日，周女士在 Instagram 上發布了兩篇紀念自己 27 歲生日的帖子，其中透露，她於今年早些時候被多倫多一所大學錄取。 她於九月中旬前往多倫多。

但為了拿回護照，她不得不在八月與五名警察一起在他們護送下前往中國大陸 - 她沒有權拒絕。

她寫道: 「我感覺自己一直受到監視」。

她說，護送者向她展示了中國自1970年代末以來改革開放所取得的成就的展覽，她也參觀了科技公司騰訊的總部，她並要求在那裡拍照。

她寫道： 「如果我保持沉默，這些照片有一天可能會成為我的 ‘愛國主義’ 的證據 - 這種恐懼是如此明顯」。

周女士說，當她返回香港時，她還被要求簽署信函，對自己過去的所有政治行為表示悔恨，並感謝警方組織這次旅行，讓她了解「祖國的偉大發展」。

周女士預計將於本月稍晚再次向警方報案，因為她仍在接受與民主媒體大亨黎智英因涉嫌「勾結外國勢力」危害中國國家安全而受審的調查。 她尚未被指控任何罪名。

她表示，她的決定是經過深思熟慮到「香港的情況、我的人身安全、我的身心健康」之後做出的。

周女士補充道: 「也許我這輩子都不會再回香港了」。

周女士是香港民主運動中最著名的人物之一，甚至被稱為 “真正的花木蘭”，指的是為拯救家人和國家而奮鬥的中國傳奇女英雄。

2020 年，她入選了 BBC 100 名女性名單，該名單每年都會選出全球 100 名有影響力和鼓舞人心的女性，並講述她們的故事。

自 2019 年反政府抗議活動爆發以來，香港當局一直在鎮壓該市的民主活動人士，最終於 2020 年實施了備受爭議的國家安全法。

So, Agnes Chow is jumping bail and will not be returning home from Canada probably for good. It is interesting to know that she has also been told to sign letters expressing remorse for all her past political activities. Signing a remorse letter is a strange thing to do in Hong Kong under the common law (but it is a common practice in mainland China). It seems that this document could be used to as evidence to prove that Chow has admitted to participating in political activities that is chargeable in law.