香港：天安門守夜活動組織者被捕

Recently BBC News on-line reported the following:

Hong Kong: Tiananmen vigil organizers arrested

Wed., September 8, 2021, 4:09 a.m.

Several members of a pro-democracy Hong Kong organization have been arrested after their group was accused of working as a "foreign agent".

The Hong Kong Alliance is known for organizing the city's famed annual vigil for victims of the deadly 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.

Pro-democracy activist and barrister Chow Hang Tung was among the arrested.

The arrests were made under the national security law, which has a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Hong Kong police's national security unit had earlier requested that the Hong Kong Alliance hand over information, reportedly including personal details of all members since the group's founding and financial records.

On Tuesday, the deadline for the request, the alliance members handed over a letter explaining their refusal to cooperate.

The next morning, police officers arrested four members of the alliance's standing committee at their homes or offices.

"We are going to respond, to say that we feel you have no legal grounds for your demands, so we are just going to ignore you," Ms. Chow, the vice chairperson of the alliance, had told AFP on her way to the police station.

Police have said that those who fail to comply with their request could face up to six months in jail and a fine of HK$100,000 ($12,800, £9,300).

Ms. Chow, a human rights lawyer, was arrested earlier this year and charged with promoting unauthorized assembly. She was later released on bail.

She was due on Wednesday to represent an opposition politician charged under the national security law at a bail hearing, but was arrested at her office before she could appear in court.

China recently imposed a broadly-worded national security law in Hong Kong that criminalises secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces.

Critics say it is aimed at crushing dissent but China says it is meant to maintain stability.

In June, Chow Hang Tung spoke to BBC Chinese explaining why she was encouraging those in Hong Kong to remember the Tiananmen crackdown.

Translation

一個香港民主派組織的幾名成員在被指控為“外國代理人”後被捕。

香港支聯會以組織該市著名的每一年度，為 1989 年天安門廣場受鎮壓致命者守夜活動而聞名。

被捕者之一是民主活動人士大律師鄒幸彤。

這些逮捕是根據國家安全法進行的，最高可判處無期徒刑。

香港警方國安部門早些時候曾要求香港支聯會交出一些資料，據報導，其中包括該組織成立以來所有成員的個人資料和財務記錄。

在週二，也就是要求交出的截止日期，支聯會成員提交了一封信，解釋了他們拒絕合作的原因。

第二天早上，警察在家中或辦公室逮捕了該會的常務委員會的四名成員他們。

該聯盟副主席鄒幸彤女士在前往警署期間的途中告訴法新社說,“我們將做出回應，說出我們覺得你[警方]的要求沒有法律依據，所以我們只會無視你” 。

警方表示，不遵守其要求的人可能面臨長達 6 個月的監禁和罰款 100,000 港元（12,800 美元，9,300 英鎊）。

鄒幸彤女士是一名人權律師，今年早些時候被捕，被控煽動未經授權的集會。她後來被保釋。

她原定於週三在一個保釋聆聽會上代表一名根據國家安全法受到指控的反對派政治人物，但在出庭之前她在其辦公室被捕。

中國最近在香港實施了一項措辭寬鬆的國家安全法，將分裂國家、顛覆、恐怖主義和與外國勢力勾結定為犯罪。

批評人士稱，此舉旨在鎮壓異議，但中國稱其目的是維持穩定。

6 月，鄒幸彤彤接受 BBC 中文採訪，解釋她為何鼓勵香港人記着天安門的鎮壓。

              So, the Hong Kong Alliance that is known for organizing the city's famed annual vigil for victims of the deadly 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown is now under investigation of the police and its top officials are arrested. It indicates that the broadly-worded national security law in Hong Kong is an easy tool for the government to suppress opposition voices.