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HONG KONG — Hong Kong police have offered a reward of up to 1 million Hong Kong dollars ($127,000) for information that would bring about the arrest of the prominent activists who fled the city’s expanding clampdown on dissent.
Authorities on Monday announced charges against eight indiuals residing in the United States, Australia and Britain, marking the first time a cash reward has been offered for indiuals living abroad who are accused of violating a strict national security law.
Kevin Yam, who now lives in Melbourne and is one of those on the wanted list, said he would not be deterred from talking publicly about the situation in Hong Kong.
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“I am an Australian citizen exercising my freedom of speech as an Australian in Australia to speak about a city that gave me everything, which I still love,” said Yam, a nonresident senior fellow at Georgetown University’s Center for Asian Law.
Human rights groups decried the “bounty” as an attempt to silence and intimidate critics even after they were forced to leave home, with the cause they once fought for all but banished from public discussion.
The arrest warrants are “not an indictment of these activists [but] of Hong Kong’s once well-regarded law enforcement and judiciary,” said Sophie Richardson, China director at Human Rights Watch.
Also on the list were activist Nathan Law; Anna Kwok, executive director of the U.S.-based nonprofit Hong Kong Democracy Council; and former legislators Ted Hui and Dennis Kwok.
Police accuse the eight of collusion with foreign forces, incitement of secession or subversion — all crimes that are vaguely defined under the law imposed on the territory by Beijing in 2020 after months of massive pro-democracy protests. The legislation also explicitly stipulates that it applies to Hong Kong residents based outside of the region.
The alleged violations, detailed on a police website, focus on advocacy by the activists from late 2020 to 2023, after they had left Chinese soil. The rewards were offered after the Hong Kong High Court recently approved search warrants.
Law, for example, is accused of “hostilities” against Hong Kong and China, including giving media interviews, issuing open letters, taking part in petitions and publishing posts or s on social media in support of sanctions on Hong Kong.
Law responded that he has not accepted any foreign funding and has not been employed by any government.
“I am just a Hongkonger who speaks out for Hongkongers. I hope that all friends on the list are well, and I ask Hongkongers not to cooperate with any related pursuit or bounty actions. We should not limit ourselves, self-censor, be intimidated, or live in fear,” he said on Twitter.
Steve Li Kwai-wah, chief superintendent of the police’s national security department, said the list was in response to the dissidents’ lobbying for foreign countries to pressure the Hong Kong government with measures like sanctions targeting local judges and officials.
He gave an example of information on the whereabouts of the activists that could serve as a warning if they attempt to return to the city. While arrests can only be made on Hong Kong soil, authorities plan to investigate potential funding for the indiuals in Hong Kong and freeze implicated assets, Li said.
“We will not stop,” Li said. “If there comes a day we can arrest them, we will definitely send them to court.”
Such language will exacerbate tensions among overseas Hong Kongers and is “likely to precipitate unacceptable infringements of sovereignty,” said the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, an international group of lawmakers, in a statement.
There was little need for a wanted list to remind activists of the severe threat they face should they ever return to Hong Kong. Local police have already arrested 260 indiuals for violations of the security law, convicting nearly 30 of them.
Instead of weakening support, the attempt to launch an international manhunt could end up galvanizing those countries that have taken in Hong Kongers.
Benedict Rogers, chief executive of Hong Kong Watch, urged Britain, Australia and the United States to issue statements guaranteeing the safety of those activists named and the wider Hong Kong community living overseas.
He also called for nations to suspend extradition treaties with China and for the creation of an early warning system to be instituted at Interpol that might prevent Chinese police from using the international policing organization to hunt down political dissidents.
After the police news conference, Yam was flooded with messages of support. Some told him it was a badge of honor to be named. He doesn’t see it that way, because to him it reflects a sad situation of widespread contempt for Hong Kong authorities.
“There is no joy or happiness in any of this,” he said.
