Australia grants asylum to former Hong Kong lawmaker and pro-democracy activist
Writing on Facebook, former Hong Kong lawmaker Ted Hui said that his wife, children and parents had also been granted visas.
Former pro-democracy lawmaker Ted Hui Chi-fung outside the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts in Hong Kong on Nov 19, 2020. (REUTERS/Lam Yik/File Photo)
HONG KONG/BEIJING: Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Ted Hui has been granted asylum in Australia, the former lawmaker said in a Facebook post, more than four years after he left Hong Kong where he faces criminal charges over the 2019 pro-democracy protests.
Hui said he received written notice from the Australian Department of Home Affairs on Friday approving his claim and that his wife, children and parents were also granted visas.
"When people around me say 'congratulations' to me, although I politely thank them, I can't help but feel sad in my heart. How to congratulate a political refugee who misses his hometown?" he said in the Facebook post on Saturday.
"If it weren't for political persecution, I would never have thought of living in a foreign land. Immigrants can always return to their home towns to visit relatives at any time; Exiles have no home."
The Home Affairs Department did not immediately respond to emailed questions sent after business hours.
The Hong Kong government said in a statement it was "against the harboring of criminals in any form by any country." China's foreign ministry did not respond to questions about the decision.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visited Beijing last month as part of his administration's years-long push to improve ties with China.
A former Democratic Party lawmaker, Hui left Hong Kong in late 2020 after facing criminal charges over the 2019 pro-democracy protests.
In 2023 Hong Kong accused him and seven others of national security offenses, including incitement to secession, and put HK$1 million (US$127,782) bounties on their heads.
Fellow Hong Kong activist Tony Chung said on Sunday he had been granted asylum by Britain, in a post on his X account. He was sentenced to three years and seven months in prison in late 2021 after being convicted of secession and money laundering.
Pro-democracy businessman Jimmy Lai is currently on trial in Hong Kong on charges related to a national security law imposed by Beijing and alleged sedition.
