'Life in danger': Hong Kong independence advocate decries police pressure

Hong Kong democracy activist Tony Chung poses in his bedroom, in London, on December 29, 2023 after fleeing Hong Kong. The Hong Kong activist said on December 29, 2023 he had fled to Britain because he could no longer endure supervision from authorities, who had pressured him to become an informant and limited his work options. In 2021, Chung, then 20, became the youngest person to be imprisoned under Hong Kong's national security law -- imposed by Beijing after massive pro-democracy protests kicked off in 2019 in the former British colony. He pleaded guilty to "secession" and was sentenced to three and a half years in prison. Since his early release in June 2023, Chung said he has lived in daily fear. - AFP

HONG KONG/LONDON (AFP): A few days before Christmas, Hong Kong activist Tony Chung boarded a flight to Okinawa, Japan, carrying nothing but a backpack -- his casual appearance a ruse to hide plans to seek political asylum in the UK.

Chung was among the youngest people in Hong Kong to be convicted under a sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing, and had finished serving time six months before.