Exiled activist Anna Kwok vows to keep fighting after Hong Kong jails her father
WASHINGTON– A prominent Hong Kong activist in exile in the United States said a Hong Kong court’s decision to jail her father for eight months has only made her more determined to fight for the territory and its people.
“I think obviously the (Hong Kong) government wants to use guilt, wants to use a lot of emotion to weigh me down, but I found a way to really find my calling in activism for Hong Kong,” said Anna Kwok, who is wanted by the Hong Kong government for her pro-democracy activism.
“So I’m not going to back down. I’m just going to be more strategic with longer-term thinking and dedicate myself more to the Hong Kong cause,” she said.
Kwok spoke to The Associated Press on Friday, a day after a Hong Kong court jailed her 69-year-old father, Kwok Yin-sang, for trying to take about $11,000 from his insurance policy.
Her father took out the policy when she was little and she took control of it when she turned 18. In 2025 he sought to terminate the contract and withdraw the money, the court heard. He was arrested and accused of attempting to appropriate funds belonging to a “fugitive.”
It is the first case against a family member of a democracy advocate wanted by Hong Kong to be subject to a 2024 national security law.
Anna Kwok, executive director of the Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council, called the sentence “ridiculous” and said it made her realize the personal costs of her activism.
“I’ve been on this journey to discover what activism means to me, now with this added layer of… very real personal cost that I don’t face but my family does,” she said.
His father’s case drew criticism from the U.S. government.
Riley Barnes, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, called for Kwok Yin-sang’s immediate release. “The targeting of individuals who defend fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong and their families is unacceptable,” Barnes wrote in a social media post on Thursday.
Anna Kwok is among 34 people for whom Hong Kong police offered bounties, widely seen as part of the crackdown on dissent following massive anti-government protests in 2019. Police offered 1 million Hong Kong dollars (about $127,900) for information leading to her arrest. The government also banned anyone from managing funds for her.
She is accused of lobbying for foreign sanctions and engaging in other hostile activities against China and Hong Kong during meetings with foreign politicians and government officials.
Kwok said she was no longer able to speak with family and friends in Hong Kong. She said she decided to do an on-camera interview after her father’s conviction to “show my family and the people who care about me that I can’t really communicate with who I’m fine, please don’t worry too much about me.”
She said she would not let the Hong Kong government succeed in making her bear the blame for putting her family at risk.
“I have to constantly remind myself that it’s not my fault, but the regime’s fault and the regime’s goal, to do something like this,” Kwok said.
