Rights groups urge release of three detained Gwangju Prize laureates

The May 18 Memorial Foundation and the Network of Laureates of the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights called on October 11 for the immediate release of three activists detained in Hong Kong and Thailand.

Yonhap reported that the joint statement concerns Hong Kong human rights lawyer Chow Hang-tung and Thai activists Arnon Nampa and Jatupat Boonpattararaksa. Chow is detained in Hong Kong, while Arnon and Jatupat are held in Thailand.

The organisations described their imprisonment as reflecting a crisis of democracy in Asia. They also expressed solidarity with people defending democracy and human rights in Thailand, Hong Kong and Myanmar despite violence, imprisonment and restrictions on basic rights.

Jatupat received the Gwangju Prize in 2017. Arnon, a human rights lawyer, won it in 2021, and Chow became a laureate in 2023.

The award was established in 2000 to commemorate the spirit of the May 18 pro-democracy uprising in Gwangju, South Korea, in 1980. The organisations' joint appeal seeks the release of its detained laureates.