HK’s jailed activist wins Korean democracy award
Chow Hang-tung, a barrister and politician, has been a leader of group that organized the annual Tiananmen massacre vigils
Hong Kong barrister and democracy activist Chow Hang-tung is seen in a March 21, 2021 photo. (AFP)
By UCA News reporter
Published: May 03, 2023 11:29 AM GMT
Hong Kong’s prominent lawyer and politician Tonyee Chow Hang-tung, who is serving a jail term for supporting the pro-democracy movement, has been selected as the winner of a Korean award that honors those who struggle for democracy and human rights.
Chow, 38, has been chosen for this year's Gwangju Prize for Human Rights, The Korea Times reported on May 3.
The South Korean pro-democracy group called the May 18 Memorial Foundation, which was named after the Gwanju democracy uprising of May 18, 1980, named Chow the winner on May 2.
The judging committee that met in the foundation office in Gwangju in South Korea said that Chow has become “a symbolic figure for everyone who is longing for democracy.”
Chow, a barrister and politician, has been jailed after being convicted of inciting and taking part in arranging an unlawful assembly ― a commemoration of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing.
Her representative is expected to receive the award at the ceremony on May 18, Korea's anniversary of the 1980 pro-democracy uprising in the southwestern city.
"Chow Hang-tung's struggle against the Hong Kong government's undemocratic, inhumane treatment has become the source of courage and hope for human rights advocates and those longing for democracy around the world, even when she is in custody," said Moon Hee-sang, head of the judging panel and former speaker of the National Assembly.Chow was among the leaders of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements, which organized Hong Kong's annual June 4 candlelight vigil for victims of the Tiananmen crackdown. The memorial has been organized in 2021 and 2022 despite the Bejing-imposed repressive national security law being enacted in June 2020.
The law gives sweeping powers to law enforcers to crack down on any form of dissent and protests that seem politically sensitive by the Chinese Communist Party and its loyalists in Hong Kong.
Besides a prison term for her role in the unlawful assembly, Chow faces a separate, graver charge of “subversion of state power” for her association with the group.
The Gwangju Prize for Human Rights was established in 2000 to mark the spirit of the Korean movement for democracy and honor those who fight for human rights and peace.