Gary Fan Kwok-wai served as a Sai Kung District Councillor for 21 years, starting in 2000, and a member of the Legislative Council (LegCo) from 2012 to 2016 and from 2018 to 2019. [1][2][3] Fan's work prioritizes the interest of Hong Kong people with non-violent actions. He was among the "Hong Kong 47" who were charged with violating the National Security Law. He was sentenced to 4 years and 2 months in jail on Nov. 19, 2024.

Inspired by the 1989 Tiananmen Square Massacre, Fan became politically active in the United States as he was pursuing his studies at San Francisco State University. In 1996, he returned to Hong Kong and joined the Democratic Party (香港民主黨). In 2010, Fan left the Democratic Party and founded the political party Neo Democrats (新民主同盟) with over 20 colleagues over disagreements about the party’s constitutional reform deal with Beijing. [4] The party secured an overwhelming victory in the 2011 District Council Elections with eight out of ten candidates elected. 

In 2012, he defeated his pro-Beijing and pro-democracy colleagues in the LegCo elections for New Territories East. He failed to secure for another term in 2016 but was reelected in the 2018 by-election after six of the incoming pro-democracy lawmakers, including pro-independence lawmaker Baggio Leung Chung-hang (梁頌恆), were disqualified. Unfortunately,  in September 2019, in response to an appeal filed by Agnes Chow and Ventus Lau of the returning officer's decision to disqualify them from running in the 2018 by-election, the High Court ruled in their favor, overturning the decision and declaring the by-election result invalid. [5] Fan and another seating lawmaker Au Nok-hin (區諾軒) were rejected from appeal and immediately unseated from the LegCo. [6]

In July 2020, Wong participated in the pro-democracy primaries for the New Territories East constituency, where he garnered 10,156 votes — 5.19% of the electorate — and secured a nomination for the upcoming legislative elections.[7] On Jan. 6, 2021, he was among over 50 pro-democracy figures arrested under Hong Kong’s National Security Law for participating in or organizing the election. 47 of them were officially charged with conspiracy to commit subversion on Feb. 28, 2021. [8] He was denied bail and has remained in custody since then. [9] [10] [11] While still in detention, he resigned from his position as a District Councillor in March 2021 and left Neo Democrats on May 24, 2021, declaring he would leave politics and "never use his political influence or take part in any election ever again." [12]

On Nov. 19, 2024, the court ruled that Fan was an active participant in the primary election. Given mitigating factors, including his guilty plea and his prior public services, he was ultimately sentenced to 4 years and 2 months in prison. [13]

Photo credit: InMedia HK