They are eight pro-democracy activists accused of violating the national security law. The Hong Kong leader called on them on Tuesday to surrender, with police promising rewards the day before in exchange for information leading to their arrest.
“The only way to end their fate as fugitives, who will be hunted for their entire lives, is to surrender,” John Lee told reporters, adding that otherwise they would be “living in fear.”
The eight activists fled after Beijing introduced a national security law in Hong Kong in 2020 to crack down on dissent after pro-democracy protests in 2019, which were sometimes violently suppressed.
John Lee also called on people to help the police, adding that even “relatives and friends” of activists could provide information. This measure has been denounced by the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, countries where some of the wanted activists reside.
“I’m not afraid of political pressure on us, because we’re doing what we think is right,” John Lee said Tuesday.
China on Tuesday lambasted the “protection” offered by the United Kingdom to these eight Hong Kong pro-democracy activists in exile. “British politicians have openly offered protection to fugitives,” a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the United Kingdom condemned in a statement, deploring “interference” by London in Chinese internal affairs.
The group includes former pro-democracy lawmakers Nathan Law Kwun-chung, Ted Hui Chi-fung and Dennis Kwok Wing-hang. Also included are a former trade unionist, Mung Siu-tat, and activists Elmer Yuen Gong-yi, Finn Lau Cho-dik, Anna Kwok Fung-yee and Kevin Yam Kin-fung.
