The situation is tense over the fate of eight Hong Kong pro-democracy activists accused of violating the national security law, enacted in 2020. Hong Kong leader John Lee – a former pro-Beijing policeman known for his role in suppressing protests of 2019 – called on Tuesday, July 4, these eight people to surrender, the police having promised the day before rewards (1 million Hong Kong dollars or 117,000 euros) in exchange for information leading to their arrest.
“The only way to end their fate as fugitives, to avoid being hunted all their lives, is to surrender”John Lee told reporters, adding that otherwise they would live ” in fear “. The leader also called on people to help the police, adding that even the “parents and friends” activists could provide information.
The eight activists fled the former British colony after Beijing introduced a drastic national security law in Hong Kong in 2020 to silence dissenting voices after pro-democracy protests in 2019, which were sometimes violently repressed. They are all charged with colluding with foreign forces to endanger national security, a charge punishable by life in prison.
The group includes former pro-democracy politicians Nathan Law Kwun-chung – who has been granted political asylum in the UK –, Ted Hui Chi-fung and Dennis Kwok Wing-hang. Also included are a former trade unionist, Mung Siu-tat, and activists Elmer Yuen Gong-yi, Finn Lau Cho-dik, Anna Kwok Fung-yee and Kevin Yam Kin-fung.
“A dangerous precedent”
The head of the Hong Kong police’s national security department, Steven Li, accused these eight activists of“having committed very serious offenses which endanger national security”. Hong Kong police can’t arrest them while they’re overseas, but “we won’t stop” to prosecute them, he added. The reward is promised to anyone who will provide information on their whereabouts “leading to their arrest or prosecution”.
The measure was denounced by the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, countries where some of the wanted activists reside.
“The extraterritorial application of the national security law imposed by Beijing sets a dangerous precedent that threatens the human rights and fundamental freedoms of citizens around the world”, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement. Washington “calls on the Hong Kong government to immediately withdraw this bounty promise, respect other countries’ sovereignty and end international enforcement of national security law”added Mr. Miller.
‘We will not tolerate China’s attempts to intimidate and silence individuals in the UK and abroad’said British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly in a statement. “The UK will always uphold the universal right to free speech and stand up for those who are targeted”, he added. Since Beijing imposed the national security law, London suspended its extradition agreement with Hong Kong in July 2020.
“I’m not afraid of political pressure on us, because we do what we think is right”John Lee said in return.
“British politicians have openly offered their protection to fugitives”for his part castigated a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom on Tuesday, deploring “interference” of London in Chinese internal affairs.