Edward Leung to shut down Facebook page upon his release from prison on Wed

Localist icon Edward Leung Tin-kei will have his Facebook page shut down on Wednesday midnight, hours before his release from jail on Wednesday, according to his family. 

The page's primary purpose was to engage in fundraising and help send letters from the public to Leung during the years he spent behind bars.    

The move is said to be actioned following legal advice, and all content will be taken down.   

The family also told Leung's supporters that they don't need to "travel a long way to Shek Pik" to welcome his release.    

"Please let Tin-kei return home as soon as possible," the family posted on Leung's Facebook page. "Please put your own safety first."   

"During the past, volunteers running this page have collected all your thoughts and wishes and conveyed them to Tin-kei," the post read. "Now, we are about to complete our historic mission."   

Leung, now 30, is set to be released from prison tomorrow (Jan 19) after completing his six-year jail term for rioting in Mong Kong during the Lunar New Year holiday in 2016.   

The former spokesperson of the localist group, Hong Kong Indigenous, was jailed in June 2018 by the High Court after being convicted of rioting during the so-called "Fishball Revolution" in Mong Kok on the first night of the Lunar New Year in February 2016.   

He had also pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer, for which he was sentenced to 12 months but to be served concurrently.   

It is understood that Leung, who is listed as category A prisoner for those that would pose the most threat to the public, is serving his sentence at Shek Pik Prison on Lantau Island.   

Considering Leung's sensitive identity, it is expected that there will be a large crowd and media covering his release, and authorities are considering plans such as allowing him to leave the prison by himself or deploying a special car to take him.   

In 2015, Leung joined Hong Kong Indigenous, founded by self-exiled activist Ray Wong Toi-yeung and participated in the New Territories East by-election in February the following year (2016), with the election slogan "Liberate Hong Kong; revolution of our times," a phrase that was frequently used by protesters during the anti-fugitive bill protests in 2019.  

But he lost the by-election to now-remanded barrister Alvin Yeung Ngok-kiu after only attaining 66,524 votes.   

Leung then ran in the Legislative Council election in September 2016 but was disqualified by the returning officer, who said she did not believe Leung had genuinely changed his previous stance for independence.   

Leung earned his bachelor's degree in philosophy with a minor in politics and public administration from the University of Hong Kong in 2017.