Hong Kong police on Thursday arrested another person accused of supporting foreign activists who allegedly endangered national security, security forces said Friday.
Police detained the 24-year-old man at the city’s airport, a day after four people were arrested for allegedly using companies, social media and mobile apps to receive funds for foreign activists.
“The investigation shows that the person arrested was suspected of having links with the group of people arrested yesterday. [quinta-feira]the police said in a statement. The five suspects have not been identified.
Local media, including the South China Morning Post and the pro-Beijing Wen Wei Po newspaper, identified the recently arrested man as Chu Yan-ho, a former member of the now-defunct Demosisto pro-democracy party, co-founded by the British activist. Nathan Law.
The other four men are also former members of Demosisto, including former president Ivan Lam.
The arrests came after police obtained arrest warrants for eight overseas-based activists, including Law, under the National Security Law imposed by Beijing, and offered a reward of one million Hong Kong dollars (117,000 euros) for information leading to the arrest of each of them. them.
The announced rewards are the first under the law, enacted in 2020 following mass pro-democracy protests the previous year.
The arrest warrants for the eight were quickly criticized by Western governments, which challenged the extraterritorial application of the security law. But Hong Kong leader John Lee said the eight, who live in the United States, Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, would be persecuted for life.
These moves have come on top of Beijing’s widespread crackdown on dissidents under the security law. National security authorities detained more than 260 people, including many of the city’s leading pro-democracy activists.
The police statement states that the man was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of conspiring with foreign forces to commit acts with seditious intent. The authorities do not rule out the possibility of new arrests.
Many prominent young activists were members of Demosisto, led by Law and former student leader Joshua Wong. The organization was dissolved on June 30, 2020, the same day the security law was enacted.
Source: TSF
