Getty ImagesHong Kong police have offered rewards of HK$1 million (£103,000; $129,000) for information leading to the arrest of six pro-democracy activists living in Britain and Canada.
Among them is Tony Chung, the former leader of an independence group fled to Britain last year.
The group – which includes a former district councilor, an actor and a YouTuber – is campaigning for more democracy in the region. All were accused of violating the city’s national security law.
Human Rights Watch said the arrest warrants were “a cowardly act of intimidation aimed at silencing the people of Hong Kong” and called on the British and Canadian governments to take action against them.
Former district councilor Carmen Lau and activist Chloe Cheung are also on the wanted list. Both are based in the United Kingdom and campaign for more democracy in Hong Kong on behalf of two NGOs.
Hong Kong police have issued arrest warrants for political commentator and pollster Chung Kim-wah, who left Hong Kong for the United Kingdom in 2022, as well as two people living in Canada: former actor Joseph Tay, who co-founded the NGO HongKonger Station, and Youtuber Victor Ho.
Mr. Ho was charged with subversion, while the other six were charged with inciting secession and collusion with a foreign country or external forces.
According to Hong Kong public broadcaster RTHK, the arrest warrants were announced on Tuesday by the city’s top police chiefs, who accused some of the wanted activists of repeatedly calling on foreign countries to impose sanctions and other measures against China and Hong Kong.
Mr Chung was first convicted in 2021 of calling for Hong Kong’s secession and was released in June last year.
He posted on Instagram on Tuesday that it was “an honor to be the first Hong Konger 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 by fleeing to the UK last year after his release from prison.
“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.
Getty ImagesMs. Lau posted on X that the arrest warrant would not stop her advocacy. She called on the UK, US and EU governments to impose sanctions on “Hong Kong human rights perpetrators”.
She also called on the British Labor government to seriously reconsider its strategies to combat cross-border repression against Hong Kongers and to consider blocking the expansion of the Chinese embassy in Tower Hill.
Earlier this month, Tower Hamlets councilors voted unanimously to reject plans for the new Chinese embassy. However, the ruling is only advisory and non-binding and it will be up to Deputy Prime Minister and Communities Secretary Angela Rayner to decide whether or not to grant permission.
This is the third round of arrest warrants and bounties since the introduction of Beijing’s national security law.
The first two rounds were released in July and December last year and targeted former lawmaker Nathan Law, who told the BBC last year His life has become more dangerous since the bounty was announced – and Simon Cheng, a former British consulate employee Arrested in a high-profile case in 2019. Both men now live in the UK.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning supported the move on Tuesday, saying the Chinese government supports Hong Kong “carrying out 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.
Authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong argue the law is necessary to maintain stability and deny that it has weakened autonomy. But critics argue that it has limited the city’s autonomy and made a wider range of deviant acts illegal.
