Hong Kong Activist Flees to Britain, Citing Police Pressure

A political activist in Hong Kong previously imprisoned under its sweeping national security law said he had fled to Britain and would apply for asylum there, becoming the second high-profile dissident this month to announce going into exile from the territory.

The activist, Tony Chung, revealed on Thursday that he had arrived in Britain, and, in several social media posts, said that he had decided to leave Hong Kong after enduring oppressive restrictions, pressure to act as informant and severe stress after his release from prison in June.

Mr. Chung, 22, was sentenced to three years and seven months in prison in 2021 after becoming an outspoken proponent of independence for Hong Kong — an idea that is anathema to Communist Party leaders in China, which rules the territory. He was released early, but police officers continued to monitor him closely, he wrote in his account on Instagram. He won their approval to take a brief vacation in Okinawa, Japan, and while there bought a ticket to Britain, he wrote.

“This also means that for the foreseeable future, it will be impossible for me to return to my home, Hong Kong,” Mr. Chung wrote. “Although I had previously anticipated that this day would come, my heart still sank at the moment I made up my mind. Ever since I joined social movements from the age of 14, I have always believed that Hong Kong is the only home for the nation of Hong Kong, and we should never be the ones who must leave it.”