Hong Kong activist Agnes Chow released from prison

Hong Kong's prominent pro-democracy activist Agnes Chow has been released from prison after serving nearly seven months of her 10-months term.

She was greeted by supporters and media - but was driven away without making any comments. The authorities did not say why she had been freed early.

Chow and fellow activists Joshua Wong and Ivan Lam were jailed last year for their role in protests in 2019.

China later imposed a national security law to stifle dissent in Hong Kong.

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Chow, 24, left the prison gates at about 10:00 local time (02:00 GMT) on Saturday.

Her supporters were heard shouting "Add oil!" - an expression that became a rallying cry during the mass protests.

Chow did not speak to the waiting media, as she was picked in a car by her friends.

Alongside Wong and Lam, also in their 20s, Agnes Chow became the face of Hong Kong's protests. They remain in prison.

Chow's supporters have dubbed her "the real Mulan", in reference to the legendary Chinese heroine who fought to save her family and country. Others have called her the "goddess of democracy".

Nathan Law, another prominent young activist, has been given asylum in the UK after fleeing Hong Kong.

What is the national security law all about?
Hong Kong - a special administrative region of China - was always meant to have a security law, but could never pass one because it was so unpopular.

So this is about the government in Beijing stepping in to ensure the city has a legal framework to deal with what it sees as serious challenges to its authority.

The details of the law's 66 articles were kept secret until after it was passed last year. It criminalises any act of:

secession - breaking away from the country
subversion - undermining the power or authority of the central government
terrorism - using violence or intimidation against people
collusion with foreign or external forces
The law came into effect at 23:00 local time on 30 June 2020, 
an hour before the 23rd anniversary of the city's handover to China from British rule.

It gives Beijing powers to shape life in Hong Kong it has never had before. Critics say it effectively curtails protest and freedom of speech - China has said it will return stability.The mass resignation of pro-democracy lawmakers in Hong Kong has raised fresh questions about the future of the territory's democracy movement as its legislature is left with almost no dissenting voices.

"We had to," said Claudia Mo, one of 15 opposition politicians who announced a walkout on Wednesday.

"We owe a display of solidarity with our colleagues who were ousted. We need to protest against what could be the ultimate Beijing crackdown on Hong Kong - to silence the last bit of dissent in the city."

Ms Mo, who has served as a lawmaker for the last eight years, told the BBC they had wanted to hang on. But the sudden expulsion of four colleagues - minutes after Beijing passed a resolution allowing the territory to eject lawmakers without going to court - made it impossible to stay.

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"They're lining us up to oust us bit by bit. What's the point of staying on like this, thinking will I be ousted today or not?"

Hong Kong has witnessed a rapid erosion of its freedoms since Beijing imposed a deeply contested national security law on the city in June. It criminalised "secession, subversion and collusion with foreign forces" and has already led to several arrests.

The law has virtually silenced public protest after months of huge democracy demonstrations that only petered out as the coronavirus pandemic took hold.

For Ms Mo, Wednesday's ruling was "the final nail in the coffin of 'one country, two systems'", which, she added, "has been dead for quite some time".

At the time of handover in 1997, the former British colony was guaranteed more freedoms than mainland China for 50 years, including its own legal system and rights such as the freedom of assembly and speech.

But the national security law, which China says was necessary to restore stability to Hong Kong, has in effect criminalised dissent.

The expulsion on Wednesday "formally marked the end of any legal dissent" too, said Victoria Tin-bor Hui, an associate professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame.

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Speaking to the BBC from New York, she said the lawmakers "had no good option".

"Even if they didn't resign today they would be picked out one by one," she said. "Beijing is trying to turn Hong Kong's legislature into the equivalent of the National People's Congress, which is a rubberstamp parliament."

The stage had already been set, according to Dr Hui. In July, the Hong Kong government disqualified 12 candidates from running in now postponed elections - including the four ousted lawmakers. Two weeks ago several pro-democracy politicians were arrested over scuffles in the legislature earlier this year - prosecutions that have been viewed as targeting Beijing's opponents.

Many are now asking if the departure of the city's lawmakers marks the end of Hong Kong's fight for democracy.

"I would not say so," said Ma Ngok, an associate professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

"It's not the end because most people are still in full support of full democracy in Hong Kong," Dr Ma told the BBC, saying the pro-democracy group at parliament, and the movement at large, still has strong public support.

"People are angry but their expression is being supressed. The media is being controlled. They can't cast a vote. They can't go to the streets," he said.