Hong Kong has imposed arrest warrants and HK$1m bounties on six pro-democracy campaigners, together with a 19-year-old dwelling within the UK after fleeing the town.
Seven others have had their Hong Kong passports revoked as the town cracks down on these it deems to have violated nationwide safety legal guidelines launched in 2020 after protests the yr earlier than.
It brings the full of exiled Hong Kongers with arrest warrants and bounties worldwide to 19.
She is accused of “incitement to secession” and “collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security”.
Official paperwork say that is for publishing articles as a “core member” of the US-based Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Basis, giving speeches and posting on social media “advocating separating Hong Kong from China and requested foreign countries to impose sanctions or blockade, engage in other hostile activities against China and Hong Kong”.
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Chloe Cheung’s needed poster, together with her Hong Kong ID picture from when she was 11 years previous
Ms Cheung mentioned she fled Hong Kong in 2020, aged 15, to complete college within the UK after going to protests as a youngster the place she “faced tear gas and batons and bullets from the Hong Kong police”.
“Today, in my adopted UK home, I’ve endured constant threats, both online and physical. But this didn’t stop me from speaking out and now I have a bounty on my head,” she mentioned.
“Fear cannot restrain me. Suppression cannot silence me. I will wear this burden with pride and without fear.”
She has known as for the British authorities to “finally stand with the people of Hong Kong” to take “real action to protect us from transnational repression on British soil”.
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Hong Kong activist Tony Chung, 23, at a rally in London earlier this yr, has had a bounty positioned on him. Pic: Reuters
Lord Patten, the final governor of Hong Kong and a patron of UK-based Hong Kong Watch, mentioned the Hong Kong authorities’s “relentless pursuit of pro-democracy activists beyond its borders is a blatant overreach that disregards international norms”.
He additionally known as on the UK, US and Canadian authorities to “act decisively and in concert to shield these activists from transnational repression, ensuring their safety and standing firm against Beijing’s attempts to undermine the very democratic values we hold dear”.
Hong Kong safety secretary Chris Tang mentioned the six are accused of inciting secession, subversion and collusion with overseas forces.
He mentioned the pro-democracy campaigners had engaged in actions together with giving speeches, posting on social media and lobbying for Hong Kong officers and judges to be sanctioned by overseas governments which had endangered nationwide safety.
Li Kwai-wah, chief superintendent of Hong Kong’s nationwide safety division, mentioned: “These six people’s backgrounds are the same.
“They’ve absconded from Hong Kong, however nonetheless flagrantly established or joined some organisations to proceed their motion to threaten nationwide safety.”
China’s office for safeguarding national security in Hong Kong said it supported the actions as those six people had engaged in “anti-China” and destabilising acts.
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Protesters conflict with riot police throughout a protest to demand democracy and political reforms in Hong Kong in August 2019. Pic: Reuters
The opposite three based mostly within the UK are:
• Chung Kim-wah, 64, commentator and former pollster
• Tony Chung, 23, former head of a pro-independence group who fled to the UK final yr after serving 4 years in jail for a nationwide safety offence
• Carmen Lau, 29, a member of the Hong Kong Democracy Council and former district councillor
Canada-based former actor Joseph Tay, 62, and YouTuber Victor Ho, 69, have additionally had bounties positioned on them.
The seven who’ve had their passports cancelled all had HK$1m bounties positioned on them final yr and are based mostly within the US and Australia.
The arrest warrants and passport cancellations come a month after 45 activists have been jailed for as much as 10 years in Hong Kong for conspiracy to commit subversion, in what was seen as a landmark nationwide safety trial.
Former district councillor Ms Lau wrote on X: “[I] will not back down only because of an arrest warrant and a bounty. And I hope to have every one of you standing with me in this fight for Hong Kong.”
Megan Khoo, coverage director of UK-based Hong Kong Watch, condemned the transfer and mentioned the acts “are clear attempts of transnational repression, designed to silence dissent and extend the reach of authoritarian control beyond Hong Kong’s borders”.
She known as on the UK, US, Canadian and Australian governments to “urgently respond” by imposing sanctions on the Hong Kong officers accountable and strengthening measures to counter “extraterritorial intimidation”.
