Hong Kong opposition activist Agnes Chow Ting was denied bail on Wednesday pending her appeal of a 10-month prison sentence for her role in a 15-hour siege of police headquarters during last year’s anti-government protests.

Madam Justice Judianna Barnes of the High Court, in throwing out Chow’s application for bail, said she was not convinced the appeal had a reasonable prospect of success.

Lawrence Lok Yin-kam SC, a member of Chow’s defence team, had argued her sentence was manifestly excessive and that she could end up serving a significant portion of it by the time her appeal was finally heard.

The counsel submitted that Chow, 24, was not particularly active during the assembly and had not incited others to commit violence.

He also noted that past convictions on similar charges had resulted in suspended sentences, fines and community service orders, as seen in the case of student leader Eason Chung Yiu-wa. The 26-year-old was given 200 hours after being found guilty of incitement over a protest that marked the beginning of 2014’s Occupy movement.

But assistant director of public prosecutions William Siu Kai-yip countered that the magistrate was right to emphasise deterrence over personal circumstances in sentencing Chow for her role in “one of the most serious unauthorised assemblies”, which involved some 9,000 people at its peak.

“The sentence is appropriate,” he said.

Another Chow lawyer, Jonathan Man Ho-ching, said his client was disappointed by the outcome, adding she was still adapting to prison life. The activist was also said to have called public attention to the condition of inmates and other protesters.

The morning hearing drew scores of supporters, which prompted the judiciary to set up a live telecast on two floors to accommodate the crowd while respecting social-distancing rules.

The young activist was jailed by a lower court last Wednesday after pleading guilty to charges of incitement and taking part in an unauthorised assembly, alongside peers Joshua Wong Chi-fung, 24, and Ivan Lam Long-yin, 26, who also pleaded guilty over the same protest in Wan Chai on June 21, 2019.

Chow, the only one of the three without a previous criminal record, burst into tears in the dock as she learned the community service order her lawyers were seeking had been rejected.

She has been held in custody since entering her guilty plea on November 23.

Wong was jailed for 13½ months after pleading guilty to a count of organising an unauthorised assembly and another of inciting others to take part in the event, while Lam got seven months for the same incitement charge.

They have both lodged appeals against their sentences.

Magistrate Wong Sze-lai of West Kowloon Court said immediate imprisonment was the only appropriate punishment, as the case involved a breach of public order and safety, as well as a threat to personal safety, and warranted deterrent sentences.

The magistrate also said the trio had planned to incite others to take part and actively joined the large-scale unauthorised assembly that was held at a time of increasing social unrest, which made the case more serious.

In particular, the magistrate noted that Chow remained in the area for 15 hours, repeatedly chanting slogans and helping Joshua Wong.

The jail terms mean all three, who are former leaders of the now defunct opposition group Demosisto, which disbanded in June when Beijing imposed its sweeping national security lawon Hong Kong, would be barred from running in any local elections for five years, unless they manage to reduce their sentences on appeal.

Hong Kong law prevents any candidate who has been jailed for more than three months from running in the Legislative Council
or district council elections for five years.