Hong Kong protester says she was granted asylum in Germany
- University student facing rioting charge over last year’s anti-government protests says she fled city fearing she would not be given fair trial
- Activist says she escaped to Germany via Taiwan several days after her arrest last November, without telling her family
Germany has granted refugee status to a Hong Kong pro-democracy activist facing a rioting charge in connection with last year’s anti-government protests, the protester said on Monday.
The 22-year-old university student showed Reuters a letter from the German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) dated October 14 that confirmed the granting of refugee status.
“I chose to flee from Hong Kong because I knew I wouldn’t be given a fair trial,” the protester, who did not want to be identified, told Reuters by phone from an undisclosed location in Germany. “I’m grateful to the German government.”
There was no immediate response from BAMF or the German consulate in Hong Kong to Reuters’ requests for comment.
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