Nathan Law, born in Hong Kong in 1993, is a politician and former student leader. He studied cultural studies at Lingnan University. During the 2014 Umbrella Movement he served on the standing committee of the Hong Kong Federation of Students, working with Alex Chow, Joshua Wong and others to organise class boycotts and occupation actions, and in March 2015 he became the federation's secretary-general. In 2016 he was sentenced to community service over the 2014 Civic Square case. That April he co-founded the political group Demosisto with Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow on a platform of 'democratic self-determination' and became its first chairman. In the September 2016 Legislative Council election he was elected for the Hong Kong Island geographical constituency with 50,818 votes, becoming at 23 the youngest legislator in Hong Kong's history. When he took his oath in October 2016 it was found not to meet the requirements, and after a judicial review the High Court ruled on 14 July 2017 that the oath was invalid and disqualified him. On 17 August 2017 the Court of Appeal, in the same Civic Square case, sentenced him to eight months' imprisonment; he was granted bail, appealed to the Court of Final Appeal, and on 6 February 2018 the court allowed the appeal, quashing the prison sentence and restoring the magistrate's community-service order. He later took a master's degree in East Asian Studies at Yale University. On 30 June 2020 he announced he was leaving Demosisto, and in July that year he spoke by video link at a United States congressional hearing before leaving Hong Kong. He has since said he was granted political asylum in the United Kingdom and has continued advocacy work from abroad; in July 2023 Hong Kong police offered a reward for his arrest under the national security law. He has continued to speak on Hong Kong issues from abroad and later published a memoir, 'Black Box'.
Nathan Law took part in the 2014 Umbrella Movement as a Federation of Students leader, became the youngest legislator in Hong Kong's history at 23 in 2016, was disqualified over his oath in 2017, and in 2020 left Demosisto and Hong Kong, continuing advocacy work from abroad.
Achievements
- 2014 · Served on the standing committee of the Hong Kong Federation of Students during the Umbrella Movement, helping organise class boycotts, and became its secretary-general the following year.
- 2016 · Co-founded Demosisto with Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow and became its chairman; that year he was elected a Legislative Council member for Hong Kong Island at 23, the youngest in Hong Kong's history.
- 2017 · Was disqualified from the Legislative Council when the High Court ruled his oath invalid, and that year the Court of Appeal jailed him in the Civic Square case.