SINGAPORE — Benja Apan hoped to study engineering in the United States and get a job with Elon Musk. She’s now facing six decades in prison for insulting the king of Thailand.

Ei Thinzar Maung had dreams of winning a seat in Myanmar’s parliament and championing the rights of women and ethnic minorities. She was beaten and arrested four years ago, and is now hiding in the jungle from a military junta that’s killed and imprisoned thousands of her peers.

Ivan Choi was studying chemistry in Hong Kong when he joined a protest movement calling for more freedom from China. He’s since fled to Taiwan where he lives in exile and is not likely to ever see his family or home again.

The three activists — all in their 20s — once seemed destined for promising lives. But they dared to challenge some of the most entrenched powers in Asia, becoming fugitives with shattered career ambitions and persistent traumas. Their stories reflect the seismic changes sweeping Asia, where voices for democracy have been suppressed by corruption, growing inequality and the widening influence of the so-called China model and its blend of repression and prosperity.