Hong Kong police on Tuesday questioned the family of exiled former pro-democracy lawmaker Nathan Law, who the city's leader has vowed to "pursue for life" under a national security law criminalizing public criticism of the authorities.
"Today, the Hong Kong national security police went to the apartments of Nathan Law’s parents and brother and took them away for questioning," advocacy group Hong Kong Watch said in a statement on its website. "They were later released without arrest."
The move came after national security police last week issued arrest warrants and bounties for eight prominent Hong Kong activists living in exile, accusing them of "collusion with foreign forces to endanger national security."
Law, who now lives in the United Kingdom, announced in 2020 that he had cut ties with his family back in Hong Kong in a bid to protect them.
But police raided his parents' home early Tuesday morning, taking away his parents and brother and questioning them about whether they had provided him with any financial support, or whether they were his "agents" in Hong Kong, according to multiple media reports.
"At around 6.00 a.m. today (July 11), the national security department [of the Hong Kong police force] searched two units in Yat Tung Estate, Tung Chung, where Nathan Law's parents and elder brother live, and took [the three of them] away to take their statements," the pro-Beijing Sing Tao Daily reported.
Police wanted to know if they had been providing financial assistance to Law or had acted on his behalf in Hong Kong, it said.
"After the three had made their statements, they were allowed to leave the police station," the report said, versions of which also appeared on iCable News and in the South China Morning Post.
Bounties on their heads
The July 3 warrants also listed former pro-democracy lawmakers Ted Hui, now in Australia, U.K.-based Dennis Kwok, U.S.-based activist and political lobbyist Anna Kwok and Australia-based legal scholar Kevin Yam among the wanted.
U.K.-based activists Finn Lau and Mung Siu-tat and U.S.-based businessman Elmer Yuen are also on the wanted list.
Authorities have offered bounties of HK$1 million (US$127,700) for information that might lead to an arrest or a successful prosecution.
Those named face a slew of charges including "collusion with foreign powers" and "inciting subversion and secession" under a law imposed on Hong Kong by the Communist Party in the wake of the 2019 protest movement that effectively bans public dissent and peaceful political opposition.
The warrants were quickly followed by five more arrests of former associates of Law and the now-disbanded pro-democracy party Demosisto that he co-founded in the wake of the 2014 Umbrella Movement, who were accused of using the "Punish MEE" pro-democracy crowd-funding app to bankroll overseas activists.
The escalating crackdown has sparked international criticism of the authorities' ongoing attempts at " long-arm" law enforcement overseas.
Hong Kong's three-year-old national security law bans public criticism of the authorities as "incitement of hatred," and applies to speech or acts committed by people of any nationality, anywhere in the world.
More targeted
Meanwhile, Secretary for Justice Paul Lam has lodged complaints to the Hong Kong Bar Association and The Law Society of Hong Kong against two others on the "wanted" list: former lawmaker Dennis Kwok and solicitor Kevin Yam, for “professional misconduct," Hong Kong Watch said, adding that both could have their licenses to practice law in Hong Kong suspended.
“This is a drastic escalation since last week’s arrest warrants and bounties against the eight activists, which were already outrageous and completely unacceptable," the group's Chief Executive Benedict Rogers said.
The group called on British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly to summon the Chinese ambassador and ask him to explain why the authorities are targeting the families of Hong Kongers under the protection of the United Kingdom. Law has been granted political refugee status.
"The Hong Kong government is openly threatening activists abroad, in an attempt to silence them and spread fear among the community," the statement said.
It said the threats against Law's family showed that the situation in Hong Kong is increasingly similar to that of mainland China, and that any difference between the two systems of governance has been totally dismantled.
‘Rats crossing the street’
Chief Executive John Lee on Tuesday repeated his vow to "hunt down" Law and the other activists for the rest of their lives.
"I have said many times that we will hunt them down for the rest of their lives, and that we will use every means in our power to do so, including going after anyone providing them with financial or other kinds of assistance," Lee told reporters on Tuesday.
"We will also go after the forces behind the scenes, who may even be controlling them," he said, without elaborating on who those forces might be.
He likened the exiled activists to "rats crossing the street," to be shunned unless anyone has information leading to their arrest or prosecution, in which case a reward could be offered.
Former Security Secretary Regina Ip earlier told reporters that she believed that while "normal" family contact with overseas activists wasn't an issue, anyone sending funds to overseas activists who then used the money to lobby overseas parliaments to sanction Hong Kong "or other violations of the national security law," could face prosecution.
More than 260 people have been arrested under the national security law, including dozens of former opposition lawmakers and political activists and senior journalists including pro-democracy media magnate Jimmy Lai, who is a British citizen.
An estimated 10,000 have been prosecuted for "rioting" or public order offenses in the wake of the 2019 protest movement, which Beijing views as an attempt by "hostile foreign forces" to foment a "color revolution" in Hong Kong.
Translated by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Malcolm Foster.