Hong Kong offers rewards for arrest of six overseas activists

Hong Kong police have offered rewards of HK$1 million (£103,000; $129,000) for information leading to the arrest of six pro-democracy activists living in the United Kingdom and Canada.

Among them is Tony Chung, former leader of an independence group who fled to the UK last year.

The group, which includes a former district councillor, an actor and a YouTuber, has been pushing for greater democracy in the territory. All have been charged with violating the city’s national security law.

Human Rights Watch said the orders were “a cowardly act of intimidation aimed at silencing the people of Hong Kong” and called on the UK and Canadian governments to respond.

Also on the wanted list are former district councilor Carmen Lau and activist Chloe Cheung. Both are based in the UK and lobby on behalf of two NGOs calling for more democracy in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong police have issued arrest warrants for political commentator and pollster Chung Kim-wah, who left Hong Kong for the United Kingdom in 2022, as well as two people based in Canada: former actor Joseph Tay, co-founder of the NGO HongKonger Station. and the youtuber Víctor Ho.

Ho has been charged with subversion, while the other six have been charged with inciting secession and collusion with a foreign country or external forces.

According to Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK, the arrest warrants were announced on Tuesday by the city’s top police chiefs, who accused some of the wanted activists of repeatedly asking foreign countries to impose sanctions and other measures against China and Hong Kong.

Chung was first convicted in 2021 for calling for Hong Kong secession and was released in June last year.

He posted on Instagram on Tuesday that he was “honored to become the first Hong Konger charged twice under the National Security Law.”

Chung said he was not surprised by the news as he breached a supervision order after his release from prison by fleeing to the UK last year.

“I knew this day would come. From the moment I decided to leave Hong Kong, I was fully aware that I would not be able to return for a long time,” he wrote.

Lau posted on X that the court order would not stop his defense work. He called on the UK, US and EU governments to impose sanctions on “Hong Kong human rights perpetrators”.

He also called on the British Labor government to “seriously reconsider its strategies for tackling transnational repression against Hong Kongers” and to consider blocking the expansion of China’s embassy in Tower Hill.

Earlier this month, Tower Hamlets councilors voted unanimously to reject plans for new Chinese embassy. However, the verdict is only advisory and non-binding and it will be up to the deputy prime minister and communities secretary, Angela Rayner, to decide whether to grant permission or not.

This is the third round of arrest warrants and rewards issued since the Beijing-imposed National Security Law was imposed.

The first two rounds were broadcast in July and December last year and were aimed at former lawmaker Nathan Law, who told the BBC last year that his life has become more dangerous since the reward was announced – and Simon Cheng, a former UK consulate employee. arrested in 2019 in a high-profile case. Both men now reside in the UK.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning backed the move Tuesday that the Chinese government supports Hong Kong “in fulfilling its duties in accordance with the law.”

He added that Hong Kong is “a society governed by the rule of law and no one has extrajudicial privileges.”

Hong Kong’s controversial National Security Law was tax in 2020 in response to the 2019 anti-government protests that shook the city for months.

Authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong argue the law is necessary to maintain stability and deny it has weakened autonomy, but critics argue it has reduced the city’s autonomy and made a broader range of dissident acts illegal.