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Frances Hui is this year’s recipient of the Victims of Communism (VOC) Dissident Human Rights Award.

The exiled Christian from Hong Kong said that while the VOC award was affirming, it belonged to those currently serving unjust prison terms for their political views.

Hui was the first Hong Kong pro-democracy activist to be granted refuge in the United States under the Biden administration.

Accused by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of “colluding with foreign forces”, Hui also lives with a $1 million bounty on her head.

Frances Hui Honoured with Award

According to VOC, she was instrumental in the 2019–2020 protests, which raised global awareness about “China’s assault on Hong Kong’s democratic system.”

“Hui,” they said, “organised global solidarity efforts in support of freedom in the city.”

The 26-year-old fled to the US “following the imposition of the National Security Law in 2020, which allowed the CCP to extradite Hongkongers to communist China.”

Her work now involves hardline advocacy for those, like pro-democracy billionaire and media boss Jimmy Lai, who are suffering unfairly at the hands of Hong Kong’s prison system.

Visited St. Patrick’s Cathedral for my first time this wknd w friends from #HongKong & saw in the heart of the church #JimmyLai‘s drawing of Lord’s crucifixion. I know then he & HK hv been in lots of prayers from faithfuls around the world. Grateful for @NY_Arch @CardinalDolan 🙏🏻 pic.twitter.com/evqEoEe5EY

— Frances Hui 許穎婷 (@frances_hui) August 4, 2025

Remembering the Tiananmen Square Massacre

Hui is “policy and advocacy manager at the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong (CFHK) Foundation and Director of We The Hongkongers.”

Receiving the award on June 4, the anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre, Hui dedicated it to those the CCP has silenced.

The award, she asserted, “belongs to the students who stood in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

“It belongs to my friends sitting in Hong Kong’s prison cells as I speak.

“It belongs to the two million Hong Kongers who once marched through our streets for democracy.

“Because of their courage, I know I am not alone. If there is any honour here, it’s theirs first,” Hui declared.

“I’m only here to hold their lights up higher.”

Raised a Catholic, Hui reflected on her upbringing and the freedom to remember the June 4 event.

“I still remember the candles, thousands of them. Candles held by people who I’ve never met.

“At that time the freedom felt ordinary. We could post photos of the vigil. We could buy books about the massacre, watch documentaries, chant slogans.”

Such as, Hui explained, “end one-party rule!”

“I came to understand that this ordinariness was a privilege that carries responsibility.”

Hong Kong, she added, kept the memory of troops and tanks mowing down students in Tiananmen Square alive.

The CCP erased that. They banned the vigil and prosecuted its organisers.

They rewrote the history.

“Beijing made a calculation,” Hui remarked.

“They believed they could blow out our memory. They were wrong. They tried to put out the light in Victoria Park, but the flame didn’t die.

“It crossed an ocean.”

It found its way to America, where the flame will pass from one generation to another.

After four decades, Hui said, “We’re telling everyone who still live under repression, the Tiananmen mothers, the prisoners, the Hong Kongers, the Uyghurs, the Tibetans, the Chinese dissidents, that you are not forgotten.”

Resilience, Selflessness and Democracy

VOC explained that the award was in recognition of “Hui’s resilience in the pursuit of democratic ideals, and her selfless dedication to defending human dignity against communist overreach in Hong Kong.”

Writing on Instagram, the exiled dissident stated,

“June 4th made me realise how lucky it was to be born in Hong Kong.”

Every Tiananmen vigil “is a reminder that this freedom is not taken for granted — it is a privilege, a duty, to fight for basic justice for those who cannot speak out.”

Hui then concluded,

“What this award means to me is not what one person has done, but a reminder of the responsibility that each of us has to bear: to continue to speak out for those who have been silenced by the CCP.”

This is also the reminder “to carry on the pursuit of freedom.”

“Even if the regime intimidates my dear people and me with red messages and all kinds of means, I will not give up until Hong Kong and those in prison are free.”

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Image via X.