香港懸賞逮捕六位海外活動人士

Recently BBC News on-line reported the following:

Hong Kong offers rewards for arrest of six activists abroad

Vicky Wong

BBC News-  24 December 2024

Hong Kong police have offered rewards of HK$1m (£103,000; $129,000) for information leading to the arrests of six pro-democracy activists living in the UK and Canada.

Among them is Tony Chung, the former leader of a pro-independence group who fled to the UK last year.

The group - which includes a former district councillor, an actor, and a YouTuber - have been lobbying for more democracy in the territory. All have been accused of violating the city's national security law.

Human Rights Watch said the warrants were "a cowardly act of intimidation that aims to silence Hong Kong people" and called on the UK and Canadian governments to push back.

Also on the wanted list is former district councillor Carmen Lau and activist Chloe Cheung. Both are based in the UK and lobby on behalf of two NGOs calling for more democracy in Hong Kong.

Arrest warrants were also issued for political commentator and pollster Chung Kim-wah, who left Hong Kong for the UK in 2022, as well as two people based in Canada: former actor Joseph Tay, who co-founded the NGO HongKonger Station, and Youtuber Victor Ho.

Mr Ho has been charged with subversion while the other six have been accused inciting secession and collusion with a foreign country or external forces.

According to Hong Kong's public broadcaster RTHK, the arrest warrants were announced by the city's top police chiefs on Tuesday, who accused some of the wanted activists of repeatedly requesting foreign countries to impose sanctions and other measures against China and Hong Kong.

Mr Chung was first convicted in 2021 for calling for Hong Kong's secession and was released in June last year.

He posted on Instagram on Tuesday that it was "an honour to become the first Hongkonger to be charged twice under the National Security Law".

Mr Chung said the news came as no surprise to him as he breached a supervision order after his release from prison by fleeing to the UK last year.

"I knew this day would come. From the moment I decided to leave Hong Kong, I was fully aware that I would not be able to return for a long time," he wrote.

Carmen Lau is also based in the UK and has been calling for more democracy in Hong Kong

Ms Lau posted on X that the warrant would not stop her advocacy work. She called on the UK, US and EU governments to impose sanctions on "Hong Kong human rights perpetrators".

She also asked the British Labour government to "seriously reconsider its strategies for tackling transnational repression targeting Hong Kongers" and to look at blocking the expansion of China's embassy in Tower Hill.

Earlier this month, Tower Hamlets councillors voted unanimously to reject plans for the new Chinese embassy. However, the verdict is only advisory and not binding and it will be up to deputy prime minister and communities secretary Angela Rayner to decide whether to grant permission or not.

This is the third round of arrest warrants and bounties issued since the Beijing-imposed National Security Law was imposed.

The first two rounds were issued in July and December last year, and targeted former lawmaker Nathan Law - who told the BBC last year that his life has become more dangerous since the bounty was announced - and Simon Cheng, a former UK consulate employee detained in 2019 in a high-profile case. Both men are now based in the UK.

China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning backed the move on Tuesday in that the Chinese government supported Hong Kong "performing its duties in accordance with the law",

She added that Hong Kong is "a society governed by the rule of law and no one has extrajudicial privileges".

Hong Kong's controversial National Security Law was imposed in 2020 in response to the 2019 anti-government protests that rocked the city for months.

Beijing and Hong Kong authorities argue the law is necessary to maintain stability and deny it has weakened autonomy, but critics argue it has reduced the city's autonomy and made a wider range of dissenting acts illegal.

Translation

香港懸賞逮捕六位海外活動人士

香港警方懸賞 100 萬港元（103,000 英鎊；129,000 美元），獎勵提供線索逮捕六名居住在英國和加拿大的民主活動人士。

其中包括去年逃往英國的支持獨立團體的前領導人鍾劍華(Tony Chung)。

這六位人士包括一名前區議員、一名演員和一名 網絡創作人(YouTuber)，他們一直在遊說香港實施更多民主。所有人都被指控違反該市的國家安全法。

人權觀察表示，這些逮捕令是“一種懦弱的恐嚇行為，旨在讓香港人民保持沉默”，並呼籲英國和加拿大政府抵制逮捕令。

通緝名單上還包括前區議員劉珈汶(Carmen La) 和活動人士張晞晴 (Chloe Cheung)。兩人均居住在英國，代表兩個非政府組織進行遊說，呼籲香港實現更多民主。

政治評論員兼民調專家鐘劍華(Tony Chung Kim-wah) 於2022 年離開香港前往英國，另外還有兩名在加拿大的人：前演員Joseph Tay(鄭敬基)（非政府組織HongKonger Station 的共同創始人）和網絡創作人 Victor Ho(何良懋) 也被發出逮捕令。

何良懋被指控顛覆國家政權，其他人則被指控煽動分裂國家以及與外國或外部勢力勾結。

根據香港公共廣播公司香港電台 (RTHK) 報道，該市警方最高層週二宣布了逮捕令，他們指責一些被通緝的活動人士多次要求外國對中國和香港實施制裁和其他措施。

鍾翰林先生於 2021 年因呼籲香港分裂而首次被定罪，並於去年 6 月獲釋。

他週二在Instagram上發文稱，「很榮幸成為第一個根據國家安全法被兩次指控的香港人」。

鍾翰林先生表示，這項消息對他來說並不意外，因為他去年出獄後逃往英國，違反了監管令。

他寫道:「我知道這一天會到來。從我決定離開香港的那一刻起，我就充分意識到我很長一段時間都無法回來」。

劉珈汶也住在英國，一直呼籲香港實施更多民主

劉女士在 X 上發文表示，逮捕令不會阻止她的宣傳工作。她呼籲英國、美國和歐盟政府對「香港人權加害者」實施制裁。

她還要求英國工黨政府“認真重新考慮其應對針對香港人的跨國鎮壓的策略”，並考慮阻止中國駐Tower Hill的大使館擴建。

本月早些時候，Tower Hamlets市議員一致投票否決了建造新中國大使館的計劃。然而，該判決只是建議性的，不具有約束力，將由副總理和社區秘書Angela Rayner決定是否授予許可。

這是自北京實施國家安全法以來發出的第三輪逮捕令和賞金。

前兩輪是在去年7 月和12 月進行的，目標有前立法會議員羅冠聰 (Nathan Law) - 他去年告訴BBC，自懸賞宣布以來，他的生命變得更加危險, 和在香港2019年因一件備受矚目的案例而被拘留的前英國領事館僱員鄭文傑 (Simon Cheng)。兩人現在都居住在英國。

中國外交部發言人毛寧週二對此舉表示支持，稱中國政府支持香港「依法履行職責」。

她補充說，香港是「一個法治社會，任何人都沒有法外特權」。

香港於 2020 年實施了備受爭議的《國家安全法》，以應對 2019 年震撼香港數月的反政府抗議活動。

北京和香港當局認為，該法律對於維持穩定是必要的，並否認該法律削弱了自治權，但批評者認為，該法律削弱了香港的自治權，並使更廣泛的異議行為成為非法。

              So, Hong Kong police have offered rewards for information leading to the arrests of six pro-democracy activists living in the UK and Canada. While Beijing and Hong Kong authorities argue the law is necessary to maintain stability and deny it has weakened autonomy, critics point out that it has reduced the city's autonomy and made a wider range of dissenting acts illegal.