Hong Kong dissidents

Hong Kong police order arrest of exiled activists – China state media

Agence France-Presse

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Hong Kong police order arrest of exiled activists – China state media

DEMOCRACY ACTIVISTS. In this file photo taken on January 16, 2018 bailed Hong Kong democracy activists Joshua Wong (left), Nathan Law (center) and Alex Chow face the media outside the Court of Final Appeal in Hong Kong. ANTHONY WALLACE/AFP

It would be the first time the city's police have used the extraterritorial power in the new law to go after activists who are not in the territory

Hong Kong police have ordered the arrest of 6 pro-democracy activists living in exile on suspicion of violating the national security law, Chinese state media reported late Friday, July 31, but the city’s force refused to comment.

The 6 included prominent young campaigner Nathan Law, 27, who recently relocated to Britain after fleeing Hong Kong.

“Hong Kong police officially ordered the arrests of 6 troublemakers who have fled overseas,” CCTV state television said.

In response to the news, Law said his only “crime” is that he “loves Hong Kong too much.”

“If they (the authorities) are out to condemn you, they can always trump up a charge… I hope everyone can fight against white terror,” he added in a Facebook post.

A crackdown on Hong Kong’s democracy movement has increased apace in the month since Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on the restless city.

The law targets subversion, secession, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces with up to life in prison, but critics said it was a legal weapon to silence dissidents and criminalize certain political views.

It would be the first time the city’s police have used the extraterritorial power in the new law to go after activists who are not in the territory.

Besides Law, the other activists sought include former British consulate staffer Simon Cheng, pro-independence activists Ray Wong, Wayne Chan, Honcques Laus, and Samuel Chu, according to CCTV.

The report said the 6 were sought for “incitement to secession and collusion with foreign forces.”

However, in an email to Agence France-Presse, the Hong Kong police said they “do not comment on media reports.”

Beijing has said the law will restore stability after last year’s huge and often violent pro-democracy protests.

But it has also hastened the unravelling of Hong Kong’s political freedoms and autonomy, supposedly guaranteed for 50 years after the 1997 handover from Britain.

In just a month since the new security law came into effect, a dozen leading pro-democracy campaigners have been disqualified from running in legislative elections and 4 students have been arrested on suspicion of “inciting succession” with social media posts. – Rappler.com

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