Where are the leading pro-democracy figures in Hong Kong now?

In 2019, Hong Kong erupted in the most stunning display of public anger toward Beijing in decades. Protesters broke into and vandalized the legislature. They bought full-page advertisements in international newspapers criticizing the government. Lawmakers threw unsavory objects during meetings to protest unpopular bills.

In the years since, China has launched an extensive crackdown on Hong Kong to crush opposition. Beijing directly imposed a national security law on the city in 2020 that gave authorities a powerful tool to round up critics, including a prominent pro-democracy media mogul.

So when Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing lawmakers passed a new security law on Tuesday that expanded the authorities’ power even further, there was virtually no opposition in the vote. The most outspoken pro-democracy activists and lawmakers are now in prison or in self-imposed exile.

Chow Hang Tung was a human rights lawyer who represented other activists on trial for national security violations until her own arrest in 2021.

Now, she says, she had no choice but to “become a columnist,” writing open letters from prison, which were then posted online by her friends. She has that too has filed various legal appealswhere she wrote statements by hand for the court because she did not have access to a computer or the internet.

Recently, Ms. Chow has focused on Hong Kong’s new security lawsaying that officials tried to attribute the turbulence it had experienced to ordinary people and vague “foreign forces.”

She faces multiple charges, including some under the 2020 National Security Law, related to her role in organizing a candlelight vigil to commemorate the victims of Beijing’s 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown .

Being in prison hasn’t stopped her from speaking out. Mrs. Chow has tried to use her many courtroom appearances as a platform from which we can criticize Beijing, including for its long-term repression of the Tiananmen Mothers, a group representing the victims of the massacre.

Ted Hui was known as a confrontational lawmaker.

In 2020, he threw a stinking rotting plant on the floor of the legislative chamber to protest a bill that would make it a crime to disrespect the Chinese national anthem. At street rallies he used his megaphone to warn riot police not to hurt demonstrators; one officer responded by shooting pepper spray in Mr. Hui’s eyes.

Mr. Hui was arrested in 2020 and charged with unlawful assembly and other charges. He managed to flee to Copenhagen with the help of two Danish politicians, and was later joined by his family.

Initially, authorities blocked his family’s bank accounts. But they later withdrew due to a protest, and Mr. Hui was able to get his family’s savings back.

Mr Hui is one of about a dozen high-profile pro-democracy activists considered “hidden” by authorities. The new security law now bans any attempt to help “hidden people” gain access to their belongings or property.

“Hong Kongers should be prepared to expect that what happened to me could become part of the daily lives of ordinary residents,” he said in a telephone interview from Adelaide, Australia, where he and his family have settled.

Claudia Mo, veteran parliamentarian, in prison

Claudia Mo was one of 47 pro-democracy leaders charged with “conspiracy to commit subversion” after taking part in an unofficial primary election.

Prosecutors cited television interviews and WhatsApp messages with journalists from The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times as proof against her. Ms Mo has been behind bars for more than three years and is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty.

According to a former legislator who visits Ms. Mo in prison, she has studied French and taught English to fellow inmates, including the finer details of figures of speech such as “tell me about it” and “over the moon.”

Ms. Mo, a former journalist, was known as a moderate in the pro-democracy camp. When masked young protesters stormed the Legislative Council with makeshift battering rams in 2019, Ms. Mo was among a number of veteran politicians who urged protesters to stop.

“Please ask if it’s worth it,” she told one protester. “Think of your mother.”

Jimmy Lai, media mogul, in prison

Jimmy Lai, one of the Chinese Communist Party’s most outspoken critics, is on trial on national security charges.

For years, Chinese state media have labeled him a “CIA agent.” Prosecutors have portrayed him as the master conspirator behind the 2019 protests that roiled Hong Kong. Mr Lai has pleaded not guilty.

Mr Lai, who was born on the mainland and moved to Hong Kong at the age of 12, made his fortune through clothing. But after the Tiananmen massacre, Mr. Lai became a publisher and launched the Apple Daily newspaper in 1995, which became a platform for pro-democracy voices.

After Beijing imposed the 2020 security law, authorities raided the offices of Apple Daily and arrested Mr. Lai. The newspaper was forced to close in 2021 after several top editors and writers and a senior executive from Mr Lai’s media group were also charged with “conspiracy to commit collusion” with foreign forces. Those former employees did pleaded guilty.

“I believe that by delivering information in the media you are actually delivering freedom,” Mr Lai said in a 2020 interview with The Times.

Nathan Law, activist, in exile in London

Nathan Law was a student leader in the 2014 protests known as the Umbrella Movement, which called for freer elections. He became the city’s youngest elected lawmaker at the age of 23, but was soon disqualified. And in 2017, he was jailed on charges of inciting the 2014 street protests.

Mr Law escaped from Hong Kong shortly before the security law was passed and was granted asylum in Britain in 2021.

He is now one of the most prominent young Hong Kong activists abroad, often testifying before American and European lawmakers.

He recently organized Hong Kong March, a month-long cultural festival with film screenings, calligraphy classes and fairs in various cities across England. He is the founder of Hong Kong Umbrella Community, a non-profit organization focused on the Hong Kong diaspora.

“I think having independent cultural work is crucial to preserving our identity, history and sense of community,” he said in a telephone interview. “While we will undoubtedly be less connected to those in Hong Kong, we can at least be more connected to those abroad.”

Anna Kwok, activist, in exile in Washington, DC

Anna Kwok, a Washington activist, is one of 13 foreign dissidents that the Hong Kong government has placed a bounty of about $130,000 on and vowed to pursue “for life.” (The others include Mr Law and Mr Hui.)

She had helped educate the protesters remotely in 2019 hundreds of thousands of dollars anonymously as part of a crowdfunding campaign to pay for front-page newspaper advertisements criticize the government.

She later became executive director of the Hong Kong Democracy Council and urged the US government to ban John Lee, Hong Kong’s leader, from attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in San Francisco in November. She traveled to the summit to protest the presence of Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader.

In a telephone interview, Ms. Kwok said she was discouraged that the new security law had been passed without objection or protest. She worried that future generations would forget that many of the city’s residents had once fought hard for democracy.

“No matter how unfree the environment is, we can still keep our minds free,” she said. “And that is the freedom we must preserve.”