Update 4/10/24: Amnesty International has designated human rights lawyer Chow Hang-tung as a prisoner of conscience. Chow Hang-tung is currently imprisoned solely because of her peaceful human rights activism. The continuing failure of the authorities in China to uphold their international obligations lays bare the cowardice of state officials who cannot accept criticism, whether from international experts or from their own citizens. Chow Hang-tung must be immediately released.

Chow Hang-tung is in prison in Hong Kong for organising a vigil commemorating the victims of the Tiananmen Square crackdown. She was charged with “inciting subversion” under Hong Kong’s National Security Law on 9 September 2021. 

She faces 10 years’ imprisonment, on top of the 17-month sentence she is already serving.

Why? Chow was the vice-chair of an organisation that organised an annual candlelight vigil commemorating the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

For decades, tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of people in Hong Kong joined the candlelight vigil on 4 June to remember those killed. 

For the last 2 years, the vigil was banned on Covid-19 grounds. Now, brave people like Chow are in prison, simply for commemorating those killed.

No one should be in prison for demanding justice, and remembering the victims of a violent crackdown.

Call on Secretary for Justice Teresa Cheng Yeuk-wah to drop all charges against and release Chow Hang-tung immediately.