Shiu Ka-chun, a former social worker and pro-democracy lawmaker in Hong Kong who devoted his final years to helping protesters jailed after a crackdown on dissent, died on Friday in Hong Kong. He was 55 years old.
His wife, Kelly Hui, said he died in hospital of stomach cancer.
As a social worker, civil rights activist and for some time as a legislator, Mr. Shiu stood up for the rights of the marginalized, but his participation in the protest movement landed him in prison. He later proved to be a key supporter of those imprisoned after the crackdown on national security that began in late 2019.
Mr. Shiu was born on June 3, 1969 into a working-class family in Hong Kong. He studied social work at Hong Kong Baptist University, and after graduation began a career as a social worker supporting youth. In 2007, he began teaching social work at the university, where he became known for his engaging lectures. He also honed his voice as a commentator, writing newspaper columns that analyze social issues through the lens of philosophy and sociology.
Mr. Shiu got involved early in the Civil disobedience movement in 2014Occupy Central with Love and Peace, which demanded democratic elections for Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous Chinese 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 those who were homeless, helping to organize dialogues where they discussed what democracy meant to them.
In 2016, he was elected as a Member of Parliament. He focused on social welfare issues such as poverty, homelessness and conditions in homes for the elderly and disabled.
In 2019, Mr. Shiu was convicted of disturbing public order and peace for his role in Occupy Central and sentenced to eight months in prison.
“I want to remind those who live in the dark not to get used to the dark, not to defend the darkness out of habit and not to mock those who seek the light,” he said in front of the courthouse ahead of the sentencing.
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 saw his health deteriorate. He said he knew that Mr. Shiu has diabetes and high blood pressure and was hospitalized in 2014 during the street occupations.
“I saw him lying in bed, unconscious and vomiting,” Mr. Chan said in a telephone interview from Taipei, where he now lives.
“With such a bad state of health, he still participated in so many political activities. I really respected him,” Mr. Chan said.
While he was behind bars, Mr. Shiu filed complaints about prison conditions, even at the risk of being targeted by the authorities. His efforts led to some marginal changes: prisoners were allowed paper fans during the summer heat.
Mr. Shiu’s teaching contract at Baptist University was not renewed after his release from prison. He founded the non-profit organization Wall-fare, aimed at helping people imprisoned after the 2019 protests. The organization paired inmates with pen pals to ease their isolation and help them get prison-approved toiletries and snacks.
Wall-fare was forced to close in 2021 as activism became more risky. Mr. Shiu deflected reporters’ questions about the reasons for the closure and what it would mean for the inmates. “Tears are our common language,” he said.
In the years that followed, he wrote several books about conditions in Hong Kong prisons and the mental toll of confinement, drawing on his own experience. He continued to post news on social media, broadcasting clips from his visits to former MPs and activists who were in prison.
In November, he published a photograph himself in a hospital bed with a mortar, saying he had to miss his master’s degree in Christian studies for health reasons. He later wrote that he was diagnosed with cancer and that part of his stomach was removed.
In his final weeks, he published essays he titled Reflections of a Person “Without a Stomach”. He noted wryly that tube feeding was difficult for someone like him, who loved food. He also shared his thoughts on suffering.
“Resilient people are able to maintain a positive attitude and develop coping strategies despite the pain of illness, regulate their emotions, stay positive and learn to live as normal and ordinary as possible,” he said. wrote in mid-November.
“However, I must add a warning: my body is not well, I need a place to rest. I will stop if I have to; please forgive me.”
