Jailed Hong Kong rights lawyer Chow Hang-tung should have received a love letter from her fiance Ye Du, a fellow rights activist based in Guangzhou, on Lantern Festival.
However, it remains unclear if his message of eternal love and support, published in a major newspaper, survived recent censorship of their correspondence by prison guards.
Ye’s letter to Chow, an award-winning activist who has been in prison since September 2021 for organizing vigils commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, expresses his sadness at the prospect of being permanently separated from her.
“Even though we are far apart, you are always in my thoughts,” wrote Ye, who proposed to Chow in July 2021 through a letter published in the Ming Pao newspaper. He is currently under a travel ban imposed by authorities, on the 15th day of the first lunar month, which is equivalent to Valentine’s Day in the Chinese calendar.
“I will continue to fight for freedom and our love for the rest of my life,” the letter reads, expressing regret that the couple has never celebrated Lantern Festival together.
Ye mentioned that whenever he advocates for Chow, he is usually summoned for questioning by state security police shortly after.
“But the strong pressure from the authorities has never diminished our love,” he wrote.
His letter also reminisces about the gifts they exchanged on previous Lantern Festivals – a large Kindle for Chow to read more comfortably in prison, and a quilt for Ye with the words: “May we never be apart!”
Delivery of a message
It is uncertain if Chow has read the letter yet. Reports emerged recently that prison guards at her facility had torn out the pages from the Ming Pao newspapers delivered to the prison, as reported by InMediaHK on Feb. 15.
Correctional officials stated that the content was considered a threat to prisoner rehabilitation or prison order.
Ye mentioned on his Facebook page on Jan. 27 that his letter “was available for the whole world to read – except her.”
He urged anyone visiting Chow to bring a copy of the letter to the prison.
The couple’s correspondence has even faced criticism in the Chinese Communist Party-backed media.
A Hong Kong publication, Ta Kung Pao, published an op-ed last week condemning the coverage of their love letters as “sensationalism” and “manipulation of people’s emotions with propaganda.”
Pro-China lawmaker Maxine Yao also criticized Ye’s letter in the government-backed Bauhinia magazine, labeling it “indecent,” “explicit,” and accusing it of “political manipulation” as Chow’s case progresses through the courts.
“The logic of the ‘love letter’ is flawed. It wrongly mixes the author’s love experience with anti-Chinese sentiments,” Yao wrote.
Ta Kung Pao described it as “soft propaganda” from overseas anti-China forces aiming to destabilize Hong Kong.
In-prison censorship
Several individuals familiar with prison life in Hong Kong noted that it is common for Correctional Services guards to censor newspapers delivered to prisons, often targeting specific inmates.
Prison regulations grant guards the authority to decide on prisoners’ reading materials and to ban anything deemed sensitive, including escape instructions or content inciting further crimes.
In practice, political topics like the trials of prominent figures such as Jimmy Lai are increasingly censored, along with material related to the 2019 protests or the 2014 Umbrella Movement, amidst an ongoing crackdown on dissent and political opposition in Hong Kong.
The Correctional Service Department responded to questions from RFA Cantonese about the censorship of prisoners’ reading materials with a brief statement: “The article you mentioned was distributed to prisoners/the prisoner,” without specifying which article was being referred to.
Translated by Luisetta Mudie.
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