After serving jail term, a Hong Kong pro-independence activist seeks asylum in UK

An activist who advocated for Hong Kong independence and was jailed under its sweeping national security law has fled to Britain to seek political asylum

HONG KONG -- An activist who advocated for Hong Kong independence and was jailed under a sweeping national security law fled to Britain to seek political asylum, according to his social media posts Friday.

Tony Chung was among the first convicted under the Beijing-imposed law that was introduced after the 2019 pro-democracy protests. He was found guilty of secession and money laundering in 2020 and sentenced to 43 months in prison.

In two Instagram posts Friday, Chung detailed how authorities closely watched him after he was released from prison: He was asked to meet with national security authorities regularly and report to them on where he had been, whom he had met with and his conversations, and authorities offered to pay him for information on others to prove he had reformed himself. They also proposed he go to mainland China.

Chung said he was made to sign a document that barred him from disclosing his conversations with the authorities, so he could not seek help from any lawyers nor tell anyone about his situation.

“Under enormous stress and fear, I can only endure silently,” he said.