A Hong Kong judge on Wednesday upheld a 10-month jail term for activist Agnes Chow and said that a lower court had been faultless in handing down the severe sentence as a deterrence.

Chow has remained in custody since Nov. 23 after she pleaded guilty to the charge of inciting an unauthorized assembly in relation to a protest outside the Police Headquarters in Wan Chai on June 21 last year. West Kowloon Magistrate Lily Wong convicted and sentenced Chow to 10 months in jail two weeks ago.

The activist applied for leave to appeal against the sentence last week but the bail application was denied by the High Court. Chow’s lawyers said she was feeling unwell and was still coping with life in custody.

In a written verdict on Wednesday, High Court Judge Judianna Barnes said Chow’s bail was denied because the activist had failed to show an extremely high or reasonable chance of success in her appeal.

Barnes dismissed suggestions by Chow’s lawyers that the jail term imposed by Wong had been overly severe and inappropriate.

Chow’s lawyers earlier argued that the magistrate had erred in citing an unlawful assembly case involving activist Joshua Wong in 2018 as a reference for sentencing, saying that charge differed from the one against Chow.

Despite the difference, Barnes on Wednesday said the magistrate had been faultless in citing Joshua Wong’s case as there was no guidance on sentencing for incidents involving unauthorized assembly.

The High Court judge said the magistrate had appropriately considered the details of Chow’s case and correctly handed down the immediate jail term as a deterrence. “[Chow’s] previous good conduct, compared with the seriousness of this case, appears negligible,”  Barnes said.

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