Recently Yahoo News on-line reported the following:
Hong Kong Police Offer HK$1 million Reward for 8 Wanted
Democracy Activists
Kari Lindberg
Mon, July 3, 2023 at 2:45 a.m. PDT
(Bloomberg) -- Hong Kong police
are offering HK$1,000,000 ($127,650) rewards for information leading to the
arrest of eight pro-democracy activists wanted under the Beijing-drafted
national security law.
The first bounties
to be offered in relation to that sweeping legislation were announced, along
with arrest warrants, by chief superintendent Steve Li at a press conference on
Monday.
The rewards apply to former lawmakers Nathan Law, Dennis Kwok, and Ted Hui, lawyer Kevin Yam as well as activists Finn Lau, Anna Kwok, Elmer Yuan and unionist Mung Siu-tat. They are all currently living in self-imposed exile, in countries including the US, UK, Canada and Australia.
“The eight persons concerned who have fled overseas are alleged to have continued to commit offenses under the national security law,” a government spokesperson said in a statement Monday. “The fugitives should not have any delusion that they could evade their legal liabilities by absconding from Hong Kong.”
China imposed the national security law on Hong Kong in June 2020 in the wake of widespread anti-government street protests that rocked the city. It has since used the legislation to crackdown on dissent, arresting lawmakers, journalists and democracy activists.
The sweeping legislation asserts global jurisdiction for cases involving terrorism, secession, subversion and collusion with foreign powers, which carry sentences as long as life in prison. That’s raised concerns China might reach beyond its borders to prosecute people for crimes under the legislation.
The UK government has previously alerted people in Britain named in a Hong Kong national security case to avoid traveling to countries that have extradition treaties with the Chinese territory. China has accused the UK of sheltering “wanted criminals” for granting asylum to Law, a former elected politician in Hong Kong.
Some 260 individuals, aged 15 to 90, have been arrested for acts endangering national security in the past three years, Li said, adding that officials have charged two-thirds of those arrested. That figure includes arrests under the colonial sedition law that has been revived by security police.
Earlier this year, a Hong Kong student was arrested for sedition over a series of pro-independence comments she allegedly posted on social media while studying in Japan, local media including the South China Morning Post reported, showing the long-arm of national security charges.
Translation
（彭博社）- 香港警方懸賞 1,000,000 港元（127,650 美元），以期提供線索逮捕八名根據北京起草的國家安全法通緝的民主活動人士。
總警司 Steve Li 在周一的新聞發布會上宣布了與這項全面立法相關的第一批賞金以及逮捕令。
這些獎勵適用於前立法會議員羅冠聰、郭榮鏗和許智峯，律師任建峰，以及活動人士劉祖迪、郭鳳儀、袁弓夷和工會成員蒙兆達。 他們目前都在美國、英國、加拿大和澳大利亞等國家過著自我流放的生活。
政府發言人周一在一份聲明中表示: “逃亡海外的八名涉案人員涉嫌繼續觸犯國家安全法” 。 “逃犯不應抱有任何妄想，認為可以通過潛逃香港來逃避法律責任。”
在震撼了香港的大規模反政府街頭抗議活動之後，中國於 2020 年 6 月對香港實施了國家安全法。 此後，它利用該立法鎮壓異見人士，逮捕立法者、記者和民主活動人士。
這項全面的立法對涉及恐怖主義、分裂國家、顛覆和與外國勢力勾結的案件主張全球管轄權，這些案件的刑期最高可達終身監禁。 這引發了人們的擔憂，中國可能會超越國界地去根據該立法起訴犯罪分子。
英國政府此前曾提醒在香港國家安全案件中被點名的英國人避免前往與中國領土簽訂引渡條約的國家。 中國指責英國庇護 “通緝犯” ， 為香港羅姓前民選政治人物提供庇護。
Li說，過去三年來，約有 260 名年齡在 15 歲至 90 歲之間的人士因危害國家安全行為被捕，並補充說，官員已對其中三分之二的被捕者提出指控。 這一數字包括根據由安全警察恢復的殖民煽動法進行的逮捕。
據《南華早報》等當地媒體報導，今年早些時候，一名香港學生因涉嫌煽動叛亂而被捕，據稱她在日本留學期間在社交媒體上發布了一系列支持獨立的言論，顯示了國家安全指控的長臂。
So,
Hong Kong police are offering rewards for information leading to the arrest of
eight pro-democracy activists wanted under the national security law. China imposed the national security law on
Hong Kong in June 2020. It has since used the legislation to crackdown on
dissent, arresting lawmakers, journalists, and democracy activists. I am
wondering whether Hong Kong is a free society.
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