District Council

Yuen ran in the 2019 District Council election for the Tin Wan constituency, where she pledged her commitment to improve the living conditions of the local residents.^[2][17] Her opponent was the pro-Beijing incumbent Chan Fu-ming, who held his position since 2007 and remained uncontested until he was challenged by Yuen.^[18][19] On 25 November, she defeated Chan with 61.7% of the votes, earning Yuen a seat on the Southern District Council.^[1]

Legislative Council bid and arrest

In 2020, Yuen announced her intention to run in the Hong Kong legislative election within the Hong Kong Island constituency. She was endorsed by former Demosistō chairman and legislator Nathan Law, who withdrew from the election and left Hong Kong in light of the national security law that was passed.^[20][21] Yuen contested in the pro-democracy primaries, where she emerged as the runner-up behind incumbent legislator Ted Hui of the Democratic Party. She obtained 19,884 votes, representing 21.94% of the electorate, and secured a nomination spot in the general election.^[22]

On 27 July, Yuen fielded questions from the returning officer to determine her eligibility to run in the election, an opaque process that nominally determined whether she had objected to the enactment of the national security law, or was sincere in statements made disavowing separatism. As part of her response, Yuen took down an Instagram photo that displayed the words "Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times". She had uploaded the photo earlier in January before the slogan was banned in July based on the national security law.^[23]

On 30 July, Yuen was told her election nomination was 'invalid', as one of a dozen pro-democracy candidates disqualified on the same day, including Demosistō founder Joshua Wong.^[24][25]

On 6 January 2021, Yuen was among 53 members of the pro-democratic camp who were arrested under the national security law, specifically its provision regarding alleged subversion. The group stood accused of the organisation of and participation in the July 2020 primaries.^[26] Yuen was released on bail on 7 January.^[27] On 28 February 2021, Yuen was arrested again and charged with "conspiring to subvert state power" along with 46 other activists and politicians under the national security law. She was denied bail on 12 March^[28] and has remained in prison since then.

On 6 May 2021, Yuen was sentenced to four months in prison for participating in an unauthorised assembly to mark the 2020 Tiananmen anniversary.^[29]

In September 2021, the Correctional Services Department stated that it had quashed a protest of 18 inmates at the Lo Wu Correctional Institution which had been in response to disciplinary action against six other inmates. According to news reports, Yuen was among the 18 protesters.^[30]