The 27-year-old activist, who was forced to flee the city by Beijing’s crackdown, is determined to continue the fight for freedom

• ‘We need to keep talking about how we’re feeling’: the NHS staff who became social media stars
  
• See the Observer’s faces of 2020 in full

Nathan Law began 2020 planning a new run for office in Hong Kong. He has ended it a political exile in Britain, unsure if he will ever be able to return to the city he calls home, or speak to his family again, because of his work campaigning for democracy.

The end of the year has been particularly painful for the 27-year-old. He has watched from the other side of the world as friends in Hong Kong, including Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow, have been jailed for their campaign work. He has been unable to send them even an email of support.

Amid ongoing unrest, judge calls for establishment of independent complaints system

The Hong Kong government breached its bill of rights on protection from torture and cruel treatments by failing to provide an independent mechanism for complaints about police, the region’s high court has ruled.

The finding comes as a report by international experts who quit a Hong Kong police brutality inquiry last year said officers’ crowd-control tactics had radicalised protesters and worsened perceptions of the force’s legitimacy.

Justice department pushes to install national security judge in case as three pro-democracy legislators arrested over unruly scenes during debate

Hong Kong’s department of justice has asked that a national security judge take over the trial of an activist, even though he has not been charged with national security offences, in a move that underlines the erosion of the city’s independent legal system.

It came as a senior Chinese official called for “judicial reform” in Hong Kong and three pro-democracy legislators were arrested.

Hong Kong has plunged further into crisis, as a new law imposed by Beijing allowing the disqualification of 'unpatriotic' opposition members led to the immediate disqualification of four sitting legislators.

The move prompted the entire pro-democracy caucus to announce their resignation, and was heralded by the opposition politician Claudia Mo as 'the death knell of Hong Kong’s democracy fight'

• Hong Kong opposition lawmakers all quit after four members ousted

Disqualified legislator says move signals the end of ‘one country, two systems’

China has passed legislation allowing for the immediate disqualification of lawmakers in Hong Kong deemed dangerous to national security, in a move widely seen as heralding the end of political opposition in the city.

The measure, passed by China’s highest legislative body on Wednesday, bars anyone from Hong Kong’s legislative council who supports independence, refuses to recognise Beijing’s sovereignty over Hong Kong, seeks help from “foreign countries or foreign forces to interfere in the affairs of the region” or commits “other acts that endanger national security”.