Case Details and Profile of Wu Shidong, Key Member of the Arrested “Hong Kong Democratic Independence Union”

(Rights Defense Network Information Center report) On July 9, 2026, this outlet learned the case details and profile of Wu Shidong, a key member of the “Hong Kong Democratic Independence Union” who was arrested, as follows:

Wu Shidong: Born on July 5, 2000, a national of the People’s Republic of China (Hong Kong), a resident of Hong Kong’s Sai Kung District, a Christian, a service worker at a catering enterprise, a key member of the “Hong Kong Democratic Independence Union” (a political organisation headquartered in Taiwan, abbreviated as the Independence Union), a localist democrat, and a political prisoner detained in China.

Raised in Hong Kong from childhood, he lost his father at a young age and has a degree of autism; during his school years, he studied at schools including Po Leung Kuk Fung Ching Memorial Primary School and Cheung Pei Shan Memorial College in Hong Kong’s Sai Kung District, and enjoyed drawing and design; however, he is kind-hearted and intelligent. After graduating from high school, he did not continue to university because of his autism and instead chose to work as a service worker at a catering enterprise, but displayed a positive attitude in his spare time, followed social and political affairs, and actively involved himself in social movements. In particular, the large-scale protests that erupted in Hong Kong in 2019 (principally referring to the movement opposing the extradition bill amendment) had a profound influence on his thinking; on September 16, 2023, he was baptised into the Christian faith and became a Christian; in January 2025, he began trying to get involved in election activities, submitting an application to run as a candidate in the alumni manager election at his former primary school, but ultimately lost; afterward, he was introduced by someone and joined the “Hong Kong Democratic Independence Union” (Hong Kong Democratic Independence Union, abbreviated as the Independence Union); the organisation was originally established in Taiwan on November 6, 2024, by former Hong Kong social movement activist Jiang Jiawei, and calls itself a “Hong Kong overseas regime political party.” It advocates “reclaiming Hong Kong”/“Hong Kong independence,” and because he shared its pursuit and ideals, he soon became a key member of the organisation, conducting internal discussions with other members and designing and producing promotional materials through Hong Kong media platforms and Telegram; on July 9, 2025, he and two other key members of the Independence Union (a youth surnamed Huang and Chen Taison) were suddenly arrested by officers of the Hong Kong National Security Department; police found on his mobile phone that he had posted a photograph of a “blue-and-white flag” in an online group and referred to it as the “national flag,” and had also made suggestions regarding policies to be adopted after Hong Kong achieved independence; during a search of his residence, they also found 19 flags in total related to the independence of Tibet, Guangdong, East Turkestan and the Uyghur people, as well as materials including a draft proposal urging the United States to formulate a “Hong Kong Political Prisoner Rescue Plan”; in response, he said that he agreed with the “Hong Kong independence” purpose of the “Independence Union,” but had participated in only one internal discussion and meeting; when later asked how the “Independence Union” had obtained the flags involved in the case, he said that he had purchased them himself, while some of the flags had been made either by him or by others whom he commissioned; regarding his statements during interrogation, National Security Department police alleged that he had “from November 6, 2024, to July 9, 2025, conspired together with others and conspired with others in Hong Kong to organise, plan, carry out or participate in carrying out acts intended to split the country and undermine national unity,” constituting violations of the “crime of subversion of state power” and the “crime of conspiracy to commit secession” under the “Hong Kong National Security Law”; on July 11, 2025, the case against the three was determined by the Hong Kong District Court to be one of “conspiracy to commit secession”; on September 9 of the same year, because he had no lawyer representing him, he applied for bail himself at the High Court of Hong Kong, but was refused by a judge designated under the National Security Law; on January 22, 2026, the case against the three was heard again at the District Court, with the youth surnamed Huang receiving a sentence of three years and six months after pleading guilty, while he and Chen Taison, having not pleaded guilty, were remanded in custody for a further trial; on July 3, 2026, he and Chen Taison both admitted that they had participated in the “Independence Union” and were active members of the political party organisation, had also participated in Hong Kong Legislative Council elections during the period of its activities, and had organised a flash action in Taiwan to raise black flags on July 1, 2025, so the two said they admitted the offence of conspiracy to commit secession; however, in mitigation, the defence stated that “he was diagnosed with autism in the first year of primary school and had received treatment from psychiatric and psychological experts,” that joining the Independence Union was purely out of “curiosity,” and that he had actively participated in counselling after committing the offence and had already expressed remorse, urging that his case be dealt with at the court’s discretion; the designated judge, however, questioned his designing of the flags himself and said that the offence was not committed under the “momentary curiosity” cited by the defence, and therefore stated that his case would be reheard and sentenced on July 29, 2026. His current place of detention is unknown.