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Hong Kong student activists arrested under new security law Hong Kong: outcry as student activists arrested under new security law
(about 11 hours later)
Three men and one woman first to be held since controversial legislation imposed by Beijing Three men and one woman are the first political activists to be held since controversial legislation was imposed by Beijing
Four Hong Kong students involved in a recently disbanded pro-independence group were arrested by police on Wednesday under a controversial new national security law, officers and members of the group said. The arrests of four students in Hong Kong’s first crackdown on political figures after the enactment of a sweeping national security law imposed by China have prompted widespread public outrage.
The arrests are the first to target public political figures since the sweeping legislation was imposed on the city by Beijing late last month. Tony Chung, 19, the convenor of disbanded pro-independence group Studentlocalism and three other members were arrested late on Wednesday.
Police said three men and one woman aged between 16 and 21 were arrested on suspicion of organising and inciting secession. Without naming them, Hong Kong police’s newly formed national security division said young people aged between 16 and 21 were arrested under the new national security law for “organising and inciting secession” by their advocacy of independence.
“Our sources and investigation show that the group recently announced on social media to set up an organisation that advocates Hong Kong independence,” Li Kwai-wah, an officer from a new national security unit within the Hong Kong police told reporters. Pro-Beijing press reported on the “thwarting” of the pro-independence group. The China-owned Wen Wei Po newspaper said the “National security police brandished its sword” in making the arrests and attacked the group for superficially closing but continuing to operate to “spread its pro-independence poison”.
He added that computers, phones and documents were seized by officers and that all those arrested were students. The national security law stipulates that secessionist crimes are punishable by three to 10 years in jail or, in “serious” cases, life imprisonment.
In a statement Student Localism, a group that used to advocate independence, said its former leader Tony Chung, 19, was among those arrested. “They are bullying the kids,” said one commenter on Facebook. “Why is it such a serious crime with just four students saying something. Does this subvert the country? No wonder those 27 countries told their citizens to refrain from going to Hong Kong.”
Two other former members were identified by local politicians and media. The arrests were the most high-profile crackdown on political figures since the introduction on 1 July of the national security law, which punishes crimes of secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. Ten people were arrested during a protest on national security charges on the first day of the law’s enactment.
Last month Student Localism announced it had disbanded as Beijing enacted its national security law, which outlaws secession, subversion, terrorism and colluding with foreign forces. Critics said the group arrested on Wednesday’s had done little except to advocate their political opinions online. They said that despite the government’s reassurance that civil liberties were protected under the security law, it was sending a strong signal that voices of dissent will be ruthlessly suppressed.
It dismissed all its members and said only its overseas chapters would continue to operate. “These arrests show exactly what the national security law is intended to achieve: criminalising free speech,” said Victoria Hui, a political scientist at the University of Notre Dame in the United States, noting that the four were just making a declaration on social media. “The law covers not just actions, but also ‘activities’ which we now know include any mention of the banned term: ‘Hong Kong independence.’”.
However, Li said overseas activity could still be prosecuted. “Their young age shows how Beijing has alienated young Hongkongers. Instead of wooing hearts, Beijing has treated them as enemies and taken all possible measures to destroy them,” she said.
“If anyone who tells others that he advocates violating the national security law from abroad, even he does that from overseas, we have the jurisdiction to investigate these kind of cases,” he told reporters. Kenneth Chan, political scientist at the Hong Kong Baptist University said: “This shows the clear intention of the newly established national security agency to eagerly use their powers given by the new law to draw ‘red lines’ and ‘no-go areas’ in Hong Kong.”
The security law has sent a chill through Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous city supposedly guaranteed 50 years of freedoms and autonomy from Beijing under a “One Country, Two Systems” arrangement agreed ahead of the 1997 handover from Britain. After the enactment of the security law, the Hong Kong government also banned the popular protest slogan “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of our times” and the protest song “Glory to Hong Kong”, saying these effectively advocated independence from China and therefore breached the law.
Last year the city was rocked by seven straight months of huge and often violent pro-democracy protests. “It is a reflection of a besieged mentality which imagines the nation and the city are subverted by enemies of the state within and without,” Chan said.
Beijing says the national security law is needed to end unrest, restore stability and will not impact political freedoms. Studentlocalism announced its closure on the eve of the enactment of the national security law but announced later the establishment of its US division. It said on social media on 21 July that a new group called Initiative Independence party had been set up by former members overseas.
Critics, including many western nations, say it has demolished the “One Country, Two Systems” model. The Facebook page of the new group says it is pro-independence because “Hong Kong will never achieve democracy under China” and “building a Republic of Hong Kong … is our only way out.”
The law bypassed Hong Kong’s legislature and its details were kept secret until the moment it was enacted. On his Twitter account, media tycoon Jimmy Lai said: “China is purportedly the second most powerful nation in the world. What can four school age youngsters do to overthrow such super power?”
Overnight certain political views became outlawed, such as advocating independence or greater autonomy.
The first arrests after the law was enacted were made against people who possessed pro-independence flags.
Wednesday night’s arrests were made by Hong Kong’s police force. However, the new law also empowers China’s security agents to operate openly in the city for the first time.
China has also said it will have jurisdiction for especially serious cases and has also claimed it can prosecute anyone anywhere in the world for national security crimes.
Those powers topple the legal firewall that has existed since the handover between Hong Kong’s independent judiciary and the Chinese mainland’s party-controlled courts.
China routinely uses similar national security laws to crush dissent on the mainland.
At least 15 people have now been arrested under the new law since it was enacted on 30 June.