15-year-old Hong Kong democracy activist becomes youngest to seek asylum in UK

Riot police detain an unnamed man taking part in a rally against a new national security law in Hong Kong on July 

Credit: DALE DE LA REY /AFP

A 15-year-old protester from Hong Kong has fled to Britain and applied for political asylum, becoming the youngest Hong Kong protester to go into exile so far, according to the city’s Apple Daily newspaper.

The paper said the girl, who goes by the pseudonym Aurora, was arrested during the protests in Hong Kong last year, but that she avoided being charged with unlawful assembly because she was a minor.

She told Apple Daily that on her arrival in London, she was immediately taken in by customs officers and applied for asylum.

A Home Office spokesperson said it did not normally comment on individual cases, adding, "All claims are considered sensitively, appropriately and on their individual merits."

The teenager said she decided to leave Hong Kong because she felt unsafe after being followed by unknown men.

Other activists and protesters have reported being tailed by men that they suspect could be undercover police or national security agents. 

Ex-lawmaker Sixtus Baggio Leung Chung-hang said last week that he decided to leave Hong Kong and apply for asylum in the United States after being followed because other activists have been detained after days of surveillance.

Aurora told the Apple Daily that she feared that one day “they will nab me as well”.

“If I stay in Hong Kong, it will only be more and more dangerous for me,” the paper cited her as saying. “It’s like I’m waiting for my death. I don’t know when police will decide to prosecute me.”

The London-based Friends of Hong Kong group, which lobbies British political parties on Hong Kong issues, said they were assisting Aurora. It said that she was now being looked after by guardians, but gave no details as to who they were or her whereabouts.  

“After the release from the UK Border Control, she was relieved and well, as she does not have to face the pressure from the (Hong Kong Police Force) and the Hong Kong Government,” the group said in a statement Monday.

There have been a number of dissidents who have left the city since Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on Hong Kong in June.

The British government is granting up to 3 million of Hong Kong’s nearly 7.5 million residents the right to live and work in the UK for five years, after which they can apply for citizenship. 

In the past few months, authorities have arrested or investigated dozens of activists and disqualified opposition lawmakers in a widening crackdown on dissent.

In what appears to be a move to extend that crackdown to the civil service, officials say that all 180,000 public servants will soon be required to sign an oath of allegiance to Hong Kong. 

Civil service minister Patrick Nip said Sunday that those who refuse to pledge allegiance could be sacked or ordered to retire, broadcaster RTHK reported.