First Hong Kong Pro-Democracy Figures Freed After Four Years Behind Bars

Four prominent pro-democracy activists were released from prison in Hong Kong on Tuesday, marking the first wave of releases in the city’s largest-ever national security trial. Their freedom comes after spending more than four years in custody on subversion charges tied to an unofficial primary election in 2020.

Former lawmakers Claudia Mo, Kwok Ka-ki, Jeremy Tam, and Gary Fan were quietly released in the early morning hours from three separate correctional facilities across the city. Police maintained a heavy presence, blocking off roads and stationing officers near prison entrances to limit media access.

Vehicles were seen exiting the maximum-security Stanley Prison, where Kwok and Tam had been held. Claudia Mo was released from a women’s correctional facility in Lo Wu, while Fan was freed from Shek Pik Prison on Lantau Island.

Speaking briefly to reporters outside his home, Fan said, “I will go back home and reunite with family. Thank you Hong Kongers.”

Mo’s husband, veteran journalist Philip Bowring, told local media that she returned home calmly and was in need of rest.

The four were among 47 pro-democracy figures arrested in early 2021 and charged under a sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing. They were accused of conspiring to commit subversion by organizing an informal primary election in 2020 to select candidates for the Legislative Council. Prosecutors argued that the plan was to gain a majority and potentially disrupt government operations—an act viewed as a threat to state power.

While all four pleaded guilty, they were denied bail and held in custody for nearly two years before the trial began in 2023. In total, 45 of the 47 were convicted, with sentences reaching up to 10 years. Only two were acquitted.

Mo, Kwok, and Tam were former members of the now-defunct Civic Party, once a major force in Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement. The party was dissolved in early 2024 amid an intensifying crackdown. Claudia Mo had left the party earlier, co-founding the localist group HK First with Gary Fan, who belonged to the Neo Democrats.

The trial drew widespread condemnation from Western governments, including the United States, which called it politically driven and urged the release of those detained. Beijing and Hong Kong authorities maintain that the defendants were treated equally under the law and that justice was served.

The mass arrests and lengthy trial were part of a broader effort by Beijing to stamp out dissent following the massive 2019 protests that rocked the city. In the years since, the national security law has been used to silence opposition voices, shutter independent media outlets, and dismantle civil society.

Tuesday’s releases may mark the end of a chapter for these four individuals—but for Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, the road ahead remains uncertain.