Hong Kong police announce reward for foreign pro-democracy activists. human rights news
Police in the Chinese territory offer a reward of $130,000 for information leading to the arrest of six preachers.
Hong Kong authorities have placed bounties on six pro-democracy activists accused of harming national security in the latest action to highlight the shrinking space for dissent in the financial hub.
The announcement by police on Tuesday marks the third time authorities have offered a reward of 1 million Hong Kong dollars ($130,000) for information leading to the arrest of pro-democracy advocates based abroad.
The Chinese territory’s wanted list now includes 19 propagandists accused of loosely defined crimes of secession, subversion or collusion.
Chris Tang, Hong Kong’s security secretary, said activists endangered national security through activities such as lobbying for sanctions against Hong Kong officials and judges.
The newly added activists include Tony Chung, former head of Hong Kong pro-independence group StudentLocalism, Joseph Tai, founder of Canada-based advocacy organization Hong Kong Station, and Carmen Lau of the Hong Kong Democracy Council.
The others are former pollster Chung Kim-wah of the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute, Canada-based YouTuber Victor Ho and Chloe Cheung of the Freedom Committee in Hong Kong.
“Since I ran, I often regret not being able to serve my people to the end,” Lau said in a post on X.
“Therefore, as a member of the Indian diaspora and as a Hong Konger, I pledge to put my fight for Hong Kong before anything else, even before myself.”
Authorities also said they had canceled the passports of seven activists previously added to the wanted list, including former Hong Kong lawmaker Ted Hui.
Once home to vigorous political opposition and one of the freest media environments in Asia, Hong Kong has criminalized practically all dissent under tough security laws introduced in response to mass anti-government protests in 2019 .
Western governments and human rights groups have condemned the crackdown in the former British colony, while mainland Chinese and Hong Kong officials have defended the laws as needed to restore stability after 2019’s often violent protests.
None of the 19 people on the wanted list are likely to be extradited to Hong Kong because they live in Western countries that have expressed concerns about declining rights and freedoms in the city.
Kevin Yam, an Australia-based lawyer who was put on the wanted list last July after being accused of collusion with a foreign power, said the latest bounty would undermine efforts to revive the city’s international reputation, which the crackdown on And it got spoiled due to some reason. One of the toughest border controls in the world during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“What I would say is that whenever Hong Kong tries to restart itself, its government takes some repressive measures to undermine all that,” Yam told Al Jazeera.
“And they’re childish enough to think that in the age of the 24-hour news cycle, putting out ‘bad news’ on Christmas Eve might make things seem less bad for them.”
