Henry Wong Pak-yu 王百羽

Henry Wong Pak-yu has served as the spokesperson for Tin Sui Wai New Force (天水圍民生關注平台) since 2015 and was a Yuen Long District Councillor from 2019 to 2021. [1][2] Wong was among the “Hong Kong 47” who were charged with violating the National Security Law as organizers or participants of the pro-democracy camp primaries in July 2020. He was sentenced to 4 years and 3 months in jail on Nov. 19, 2024.

Wong graduated from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) with a bachelor’s degree in engineering, majoring in Computer Science and Engineering. He started his career in the financial industry as an IT Support/Help Desk Engineer. Inspired by the Umbrella Revolution in 2014, Wong joined the Tin Shui Wai New Force (天水圍民生關注平台) at the end of 2014 and later became the spokesperson of the organization. Partipating in politics as a “localist,” Wong hoped to make “localist ideology” more prominent in Hong Kong’s political discourse. [3]

In 2016, Wong secured a seat as an elector representing the Information Technology (IT) subsector in the Election Committee Subsector election, giving him a vote in the 2017 Chief Executive election as one of 1,200 electors. [4] In 2017, Wong joined a few other colleagues to cast a blank vote in the Chief Executive election to express his dissatisfaction with all the candidates appointed by Beijing for not supporting democracy. [5]

Wong was elected to the Yuen Long District Council as an independent candidate in the 2019 District Council elections, in which the pro-democracy camp drew a landslide victory. He defeated Michael Luk Chung-hung (陸頌雄) of the pro-Beijing Hong Kong Federation of Trade Unions who had served as the councilor for 16 years. [6]

In July 2020, Wong participated in the pro-democracy primaries for the District Council (Second) functional constituency, where he garnered 71,706 votes — 12.82% of the electorate — and secured a nomination for the upcoming legislative elections.[7] He was arrested by police on Nov. 22, 2020, on charges of conspiracy to defraud related to campaign expenses of nearly HK$5 million for the 2020 Legislative Council election. He was also charged with possession of imitation firearms after police found the items at his home. [8]

On Jan. 6, 2021, Wong 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. [9] He was denied bail and has remained in custody since then. [10] On May 4, 2021, while still in detention, he resigned from his position as a District Councillor, believing that he could not effectively fulfill his duties. [11] Wong pleaded guilty to the charges brought against him. Given mitigating factors, including his guilty plea and his service to the community as a District Councillor, the court ultimately sentenced him to 4 years and 3 months in prison. [12]