They are framed for violating the National Security Law imposed by Beijing in 2020. Among those wanted are two former parliamentarians. A reward of almost 128,000 euros is offered for all of them. As a member of Interpol, China is requesting his extradition. They are accused of invoking the independence of Hong Kong and having carried out “illegal activities”.
Hong Kong () – The Hong Kong police have issued arrest warrants for eight exiled activists for violating the draconian National Security Law imposed by the former governor of Beijing and used to suppress dissent. They include former MPs Ted Hui and Dennis Kwok, who are accused of various offences, including “subversion” and incitement to independence. The authorities offered a reward of more than one million Hong Kong dollars (almost 118,000 euros) for each of those wanted in case they are captured.
For the first time, rewards are offered for crimes related to the pro-Beijing law, which punishes acts of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. In addition, the announcement came a week after the publication of an editorial in the state newspaper Ta Kung Pao, which cited article 38 of the infamous law, according to which the rule also applies to people who live outside the city. Specifically, the text establishes that China, as a member country of Interpol, can request the cooperation of other nations of the world to help capture wanted persons or fugitives for whom an arrest warrant is pending.
The arrest warrant, issued two days before the third anniversary of the law’s promulgation and 26 years after the city’s full reincorporation into the Chinese motherland, concerns former deputies Ted Hui and Dennis Kwok, activists Nathan Law, Anna Kwok, Elmer Yuen, Mung Siu-tat and Finn Law, and attorney Kevin Yam. The exiles (in the photo, Hong Kong Free Press) are currently found in Canada, Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Police and law enforcement chief Steve Li stressed that the reward offer is “not a form of show business” but another attempt to “enforce the law.” The objective is to manage to stop them, because the suspects, despite having fled the city, continue to carry out illegal activities that endanger Hong Kong, whose “independence” or self-determination has also been “invoked in the past” by the wanted people.
The police memo also claims the group “grossly violated” the law and calls for exemplary sanctions against “local officials” who “conspired to have foreign nations undermine Hong Kong’s financial status.” The eight must come forward and turn themselves in, police concluded, so that the courts can “consider” the possibility of “imposing a lighter sentence.”
Law enforcement officials stated that 260 people between the ages of 15 and 90 were detained for acts endangering national security in the past three years, since the law came into force. Of these, the authorities accused and prosecuted two thirds, to which five companies are added.
