Albert Ho 何俊仁

Albert Ho Chun-yan (何俊仁) is a Hong Kong solicitor, former legislator, and long-time pro-democracy activist. Ho was a founding member of the United Democrats of Hong Kong (香港民主同盟), which later merged into the Democratic Party (香港民主黨), the city’s largest pro-democracy political party. He served as the party’s chairman from 2006–2012. He was the co-founder and former chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China (香港市民支援愛國民主運動聯合會), the group that organized the city’s annual Tiananmen Square candlelight vigil in Victoria Park. [1][2]

Ho was admitted to practice law in 1977 and has worked a number of human rights cases on a pro-bono basis for the pan-democracy camp. His political career began when he was appointed to the Kowloon City District Board from 1982-83. In 1985, he co-founded the Hong Kong Affairs Society (HKAS; 太平山學會) to participate in electoral politics during the city’s transition period from British rule to Chinese rule. As the leader of the HKAS, he demanded a faster pace of democratization in Hong Kong and the safeguarding of freedom and way of life after the handover of Hong Kong to Mainland China after 1997. In 1995, he was elected to the Regional Council, winning the largest number of votes in the Regional Council elections that year. He was also elected to the Legislative Council in the same year, winning 54 percent of the popular vote in the New Territories West geographical constituency. In 1998, the first Legislative Council election in Hong Kong under Beijing’s rule, Ho won one of the 20 elected seats in the council, representing the New Territories West constituency. Ho continued to be re-elected and served as a member of the Legislative Council until 2016. [3][4]

During the 1989 Tiananmen Square movement, he co-founded the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China to support the protests in China. He became the third chairman of the Alliance from 2014 to 2019. The Alliance is critical of Beijing’s bloody crackdown and had been organizing an annual candlelight vigil in Victoria Park every year until it was banned in 2021.

Throughout Ho’s political career, he has faced multiple violent attacks and China state-led shaming. On Aug. 20, 2006, he was attacked by multiple people after a mass demonstration during which he was severely injured, temporarily lost his eyesight, and had to undertake surgery on his nose and eyes. During the 2019 pro-democracy movement, he was attacked on his way home. In 2019, China’s state media launched a personal attack on Albert Ho, as well as Jimmy Lai (黎智英), Martin Lee (李柱銘), and Anson Chan (陳方安生) labelling them as the “new Gang of Four” that “colludes” with Western forces to instigate unrest and destroy Hong Kong. [5]

Between 2020 and 2021, Ho was arrested several times over charges related to protests during the 2019 pro-democracy movement and the Tiananmen vigil. He was found guilty of all charges across three protest cases and was sentenced to serve 18 months in prison. [6] In September 2021, while in prison, he was charged under the National Security Law with “inciting subversion of state power”, related to his leadership in the Alliance. [7]

In August 2022, Ho was granted bail due to a lung cancer diagnosis. [8] His bail conditions barred him from making public statements, meeting foreign officials, or engaging in political activity. [9] However in March 2023, he was arrested due to violation of bail conditions. [10] He was accused of trying to interfere with witnesses in the “Hong Kong 47” case. His bail was revoked, and he has been in custody ever since. [11]

Photo: RFI