Shui Ka-chun, Hong Kong activist, has died

Shiu Ka-chun, a former Hong Kong social worker and pro-democracy lawmaker who spent her last years helping protesters jailed after a crackdown on the opposition, died in Hong Kong on Friday. He was 55 years old.

His wife, Kelly Hui, said his death at the hospital was due to stomach cancer.

As a social worker, civil rights activist and one-time legislator, Mr. Shiu stood up for the rights of marginalized people, but his involvement in the protest movement landed him in prison. He later emerged as a key supporter of those arrested following the national security crackdown that began in late 2019.

Mr. Shiu was born on June 3, 1969 in Hong Kong to a working-class family. She studied social work at Hong Kong Baptist University and after graduation began a career as a social worker supporting young people. In 2007, he started teaching social work at the university, where he was known for his interesting lectures. He also increased his voice as a commentator by writing newspaper columns that analyzed social issues through the lens of philosophy and sociology.

Mr. Shiu got involved early 2014 civil disobedience movementOccupy Center with Love and Peace, demanding democratic elections for Hong Kong, China’s semi-autonomous territory. He mobilized other social workers to participate in protests that blocked traffic in the heart of Hong Kong’s business district. He reached out to people with disabilities or chronic illnesses or who were homeless, helping to organize dialogues where they discussed what democracy meant to them.

He was elected deputy in 2016. He focused on welfare issues such as poverty, homelessness, and conditions in homes for the elderly and disabled.

In 2019, it was Mr. Shiu convicted of public nuisance For his role in Occupy Central and was sentenced to eight months in prison.

“I want to remind those who live in darkness not to get used to the darkness, not to defend the darkness out of habit, and not to mock those who seek the light,” he said.

Chan Kin Man, a sociology professor who led the Occupy Central Movement, recalled sharing a cell with Mr. Shiu on the day they were sentenced and seeing how his health had deteriorated. He said he knew Mr Shiu had diabetes and high blood pressure and was hospitalized during the 2014 street invasions.

“I watched her lying on the bed passed out and vomiting,” Mr. Chan said in a telephone interview from Taipei, where he now lives.

“Despite his poor health, he still participated in many political activities. I really respected him,” Mr. Chan said.

While he was behind bars, Mr. Shiu raised complaints about prison conditions, even at the risk of making himself a target of the authorities. His efforts led to some marginal change: In the summer heat, inmates were allowed paper fans.

Mr. Shiu’s teaching contract at Baptist University was not renewed after his release from prison. He founded Wall-fare, a non-profit organization aimed at helping people arrested after the 2019 protests. The organization paired inmates with penmates to ease their isolation and helped provide them with prison-approved toiletries and snacks.

Wall-fare was forced to close in 2021 because the activity became more risky. Mr. Shiu deflected reporters’ questions about the reason for the closure and what it meant for inmates. “Tears are our common language,” he said.

In later years, he wrote several books based on his experiences about the conditions of Hong Kong prisons and the mental burden of inmates. He continued to post updates on social media, relaying snippets of his visits to jailed former MPs and activists.

In November, he a photo found himself in a hospital bed wearing a mortarboard, saying that his health had forced him to finish a master’s program in Christian studies. Later, he wrote that he had cancer and that part of his stomach was removed.

In his final weeks, he published essays that he described as the thoughts of a man with “no stomach.” He observed wryly that tube feeding was difficult for a foodie like her. He also shared his thoughts on suffering.

“Resilient people are able to maintain a positive attitude and develop coping strategies, regulate their emotions, stay positive and learn to live as normal and ordinary as possible despite the pain of the disease,” she said. he wrote in mid-November.

“But I must add a warning: my body is failing, and I need a place to rest. I will stop if necessary; please forgive me.”