According to reports, Hong Kong police have formally listed overseas democracy activist, Agnes Chow, as a wanted person after she jumped bail and absconded to Canada in December, warning they will “pursue her for life.”
While talking to journalists, Andrew Kan, Deputy Commissioner of the city’s national security police, said: “No fugitive should imagine they can evade criminal prosecution by absconding or leaving Hong Kong.
China’s official police account posted: “Hong Kong police officially list Agnes Chow as wanted. Unless she surrenders, she will be hunted for the rest of her life.”
Chow, 27, a renowned democracy activist who has already served a seven-month jail term for “illegal assembly” connected to protests outside Hong Kong’s police headquarters on June 21, 2019, was released on bail at the time of her departure, for which she got a permit to travel from the Hong Kong police.
Soon after she left the city, she posted on her Instagram account that she wasn’t going back. Later, she said she was contemplating whether to apply for asylum in Canada.
Chow was a founding member of the opposition party Demosisto, which was dissolved in 2020 when the national security law became effective. She worked alongside jailed activist Joshua Wong in protests and civil disobedience movements since 2012.
After she served her first sentence, she was rearrested under the national security law on suspicion of “collusion with foreign forces,” and was released on bail pending investigation, and subjected to a travel ban.
She was compelled to embark on a patriotic “study trip” to mainland China and kept under surveillance by police, who later permitted her to leave the city to study in Canada on condition that she return by the end of 2023. Also, Chow has spoken out about the impact of that period on her mental health.
Chow became the 14th overseas activist on the government’s wanted list, though Kan didn’t reveal whether there is a HK$1 million bounty on her head, as is the case with the other 13 activists.
In July 2023, police offered rewards for information leading to the arrests of eight wanted activists, with an extra five activists added to the list in December 2023.
