Gary Wong Ka-ho felt a rush of relief when he heard his sentence at the West Kowloon Law Courts Building on 16 March 2024.
The former student journalist was fined HK$1,500 (US$192) for unlawfully entering the Legislative Council (LegCo) chamber on 1 July 2019 at the height of the mass protests, when hundreds of protesters stormed the building. What it meant for Wong at that moment was that he could finally proceed with his plan to seek asylum in Canada.
It took four years for the case to finally go to trial in May last year, when the prosecution for the first time agreed that Wong was at the scene in the capacity of a journalist, instead of “rioting” in the legislature. Wong, formerly of the City University of Hong Kong (CityU) student press, received a fine because he picked up a torn Basic Law booklet from the floor to take a better photo.
Wong, 24, decided to leave Hong Kong.
“There have been too many cases in which, after the defendants were set free, the prosecution kept appealing relentlessly,” Wong told The Hong Konger by phone. “Moreover, the prosecution can, at any time, charge people with any actions committed in the past. It would be too frustrating to live in the shadows of a déjà vu.”
He was referring to his arrest when police officers knocked on his door when he was still sleeping at 6.30am in August 2019. The Hong Kong police often arrested protesters at dawn.
Initially, Wong was arrested for unlawfully entering the LegCo and for criminal damage. The situation worsened in early June 2020 when he was slapped with a rioting charge, for which he could have spent up to 10 years behind bars.
During the 2019 protests, with numerous incidents occurring around the city, members of the student press captured scenes that even established news outlets could not. On 1 October, the CityU’s student journalists were able to shoot exclusive footage of a police officer firing a gunshot at a protester with a live round. The number of followers of the student press’ Facebook page skyrocketed, representing the public’s view of its value.
Wong believed his case was “highly political” because he and fellow defendant Ma Kai-chung, who had been a reporter for the online news outlet Passion Times, were the first journalists to be charged for the 2019 protests. He feared that if he was convicted, the Hong Kong government could have used it as an excuse to push a “fake news” law.
Wong did not have confidence in the judicial system as his case was handled by the District Court, where the trial was conducted by a judge and without a jury. It was more worrying that William Tam Yiu-ho, a Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, who is the only senior counsel in the department, was put in charge of the case.
“There was a period of time in which I was really worried that my case could be handled by a ‘nail judge’,” he said, referring to judges who seek to convict defendants and hand out heavy sentences. “Instead of debating legal principles, I felt that it simply depended on which judge I got.”
Due to the delays of the trial, Wong gave up the opportunity to pursue a master’s degree in international relations in Zurich. Had he taken it, he would have graduated before the trial began. Although Wong has been on bail since being arrested, he was not allowed to leave Hong Kong unless he paid a much higher bail, which he could not afford.
“It would have been another mental struggle if I had left [to pursue] the degree. Would I come back to face the unpredictable trial and sentence or not?” he said.
But he does not see this as a setback, saying jokingly that the time stuck in the city helped him to save for life in Canada, because he still wasn’t able to travel after the Covid-19 pandemic ended. Instead, he travelled around Hong Kong and completed the list of places he wanted to see before leaving.
The lingering case made it impossible for him to have a real career. While awaiting trial, he worked as a full-time clerk, but had to quit because the trial would be held daily for up to three months. After the trial, while awaiting the result, he worked part-time as a commercial photographer.
“It was not easy adjusting to the new life, but I had to because I needed the money for the future and I wanted to have no regrets, foreseeing that I would be on a one-way flight,” he said.
To him, the implementation of the national security law (NSL) on 30 June 2020 was the strongest reason that pushed him to consider leaving Hong Kong. The law was used to shut down liberal news outlets Apple Daily and Stand News, which made Wong even more worried about his future in Hong Kong.
“You could see that most of the NSL cases did not involve national security issues; they were using national security as an excuse,” he said.
Wong is no stranger to social movements. In 2014, when he was still a secondary school student, his post on an online forum urged people to protest at LegCo against the proposal to develop farmlands in North East New Territories, and suggested ways to stop the police. He was charged with accessing a computer with criminal or dishonest intent, a vague crime category open to interpretation. He pleaded guilty to obtain a reduced sentence of entering a rehabilitation centre for six months, followed by a year of probation order, instead of jail time.
In 2018, he protested against the Hong Kong government’s plans to conduct mass land reclamation and, in 2021, received a sentence of three weeks for unlawful assembly since he had a prior criminal record.
As soon as his trial ended, Wong paid his fine and left Hong Kong. Although Canada was one of the first countries to respond to Hong Kong’s drastic changes, introducing a “lifeboat” scheme for Hong Kongers in 2021, his past convictions and criminal records became a hurdle, because he could not obtain the Certificate of Clearance necessary for the application, forcing him to instead choose to apply for asylum.
“I have no regrets at all as leaving Hong Kong seemed to be the only choice for me eventually,” he said. “Even if I did not participate in social movements or if I did not enter the LegCo, I would have left Hong Kong eventually, seeing its current status under NSL.”
“It was such a big relief. There is no more anxiety fearing the NSL. The pressure was simply unbearable, as you had to be very careful every day about what you did and what you said, worrying that the police may knock on your door in the morning again,” he added.
With the high number of Hong Kong applicants for asylum and lifeboat schemes in Canada, it would take months before his claim was processed. But Wong wasn’t deterred, and he is looking forward to receiving a work permit in the near future.
“I was worried that I couldn’t get the Hong Kong food that I miss, but it turns out I can find it in Toronto quite easily,” he said.
For now Wong does not have plans to work as a journalist, believing that he still has much to learn before taking on journalism again, even though his previous work won him honorary mention in the 2022 Human Rights Press Awards.
He wants to try new things in his new home, such as furthering his studies once he has saved enough money. But he is not forcing himself to achieve any targets.
“The years awaiting trial taught me to go with the flow. I want to fill in the blanks of my past three to four years. I want to have a casual life like someone in his 20s. I also want to get a career and a hobby which I can fully enjoy,” he said. “Petting a cat will be my eternal goal.”
