Kwok Ka-ki 郭家麒

Kwok Ka-ki is a Hong Kong politician associated with the Civic Party (公民黨) and a urologist. He joined the Civic Party in 2010. [1] Kwok served in the Legislative Council (LegCo) for many years, representing the Medical constituency from 2004 to 2008 and the New Territories West constituency from 2012 to 2020. [2] He was also a Central and Western District Councillor from 1994 to 2008, representing the Mid Levels East constituency. [3]

Kwok graduated from the University of Hong Kong (香港大學) with a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery and became a private urology doctor. Beyond his roles as a doctor and district councilor, he contributed to the public sector as an appointed member of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority from 2004 to 2006. [4]

In 2008, Kwok lost his seat in LegCo. [5] He joined the Civic Party in 2010. In 2012, he returned to LegCo as a representative of the New Territories West constituency. [6] In 2017, due to his pro-democracy stance, Kwok and his wife were denied entry to Macau. He questioned whether the Macau government maintained a “blacklist” and criticized the incident for undermining Hong Kong’s constitutional status. [7]

On May 19, 2019, pro-Beijing lawmakers attempted to install their ally Abraham Shek (石禮謙) as head of the Bills Committee to replace pro-democrat James To (涂謹申), aiming to expedite the legislative procedure for the extradition bill. Pro-democracy lawmakers, including Kwok, Gary Fan (范國威), Au Nok-hin (區諾軒), and Chan Chi-chun (陳志全), opposed this move, insisting To was the only legitimate head, resulting in a melee. Kwok was subsequently charged with obstructing and assaulting a LegCo officer, but the charges were dropped in 2022. [8]

With his medical expertise, Kwok was particularly outspoken during the COVID-19 outbreaks in the city for criticizing the government’s mishandling, including problems with the reporting system with China, delays in responding during the pandemic’s early days, and concerns about the cost-effectiveness of mandatory mass COVID-19 testing. [9][10][11]

In July 2020, Kwok participated in the pro-democracy camp’s primary election. He ran in the New Territories West constituency, receiving 13,354 votes and securing the sixth place in the primary and a nomination for the upcoming legislative elections. [12] On Nov. 12, 2020, Kwok, along with three other lawmakers, was disqualified from LegCo after Beijing imposed new rules allowing the government to unseat lawmakers deemed insufficiently patriotic. Their disqualifications triggered a mass resignation of all remaining pro-democracy legislators in solidarity, leaving LegCo dominated by pro-Beijing members. [13] Later, Kwok was barred from running in the 2020 LegCo election, as returning officers ruled his nomination invalid. [14]

On Jan. 6, 2021, Kwok was among 55 activists arrested for allegedly violating the National Security Law due to his participation in the primary election. [15] On Feb. 28, he was arrested again along with 46 others. Although the court granted him bail on March 4, 2021, this decision was very soon overturned by the High Court on March 13, 2021, leading to his continued detention since Feb. 28, 2021. [16] On August 19, 2022, he pleaded guilty to the charge. In his guilty plea, he wrote that he feels remorse about what he did, and his biggest hope right now is to be able to go home and spend time with his wife. [17] [18]

On Nov. 19, 2024, the court ruled him as an active participant in the primary election. Given his plea and his record of public service as mitigating circumstances, he received a sentence of 4 years and 2 months in prison. [19]

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