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Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam has said that 12 city residents who were arrested at sea by Chinese authorities were not pro-democracy activists, reiterating that those detained would have to face justice on the mainland.
Lam’s comment on Tuesday came after relatives of some of the detainees called for their urgent return to semi-autonomous Hong Kong and pleaded with the authorities to allow the 12 to consult lawyers appointed by their families, and not the Chinese government.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also expressed deep concern over the arrests, describing the detainees as “democracy activists” in a statement Friday.
The group was arrested on August 23 while allegedly attempting to travel to Taiwan by boat. A statement from the public security bureau in Shenzhen, a southern Chinese city, said the 12 Hong Kong people, aged 16 to 33, were under “mandatory criminal detention” for illegally entering mainland China.
The incident occurred in the context of an offensive against pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong, including several arrests under a new national security law that punishes anything that Beijing considers secession, subversion, “terrorism” and collusion with foreign forces.
“The reason they left Hong Kong appears to be that they were escaping legal responsibility,” Lam said at his regular weekly news conference.
“I want to make things clear, because certain local and foreign individuals tried to divert attention, describing them as oppressed democratic activists.”
The Hong Kong Security Bureau said on Monday the 12 were suspected of having committed crimes in Hong Kong.
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China Responds to US Criticism of Hong Kong Activists Detained (2:40) |
Ten of them had been charged with crimes such as manufacture or possession of explosives, arson, riot, assault on police or possession of offensive weapons, the office said. Those 10 were out on bail and were not allowed to leave Hong Kong.
One of the 12 was also suspected of “collusion with foreign forces” under the national security law. Hong Kong Free Press identified the man as Andy Li and said he was an activist and was among those arrested during a massive raid on August 10.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry previously described the group as “separatists.”
Hua Chunying, a spokesman for the Foreign Ministry, said on Twitter on Sunday that the 12 detainees were not “democratic activists, but elements trying to separate #HongKong from China.”
Meanwhile, Hong Kong authorities have urged Taiwan to return five Hong Kong people who fled the city by boat last month and were picked up by the Taiwanese coastguard in the South China Sea.
“We urge Taiwan to take responsibility for addressing cross-border crime,” the statement from the Hong Kong public security bureau read. “If they have allegedly committed a crime in Hong Kong, don’t protect the criminals.”
Taiwan, a self-governing democratic island, has opened its doors to Hong Kong people, but officials say anyone entering must do so legally, even though its borders are largely closed due to coronavirus prevention measures.
Taiwan’s official Central News Agency reported late Sunday that the five “have basic rights, including access to lawyers,” citing an unidentified source.
The Taiwanese government has declined to comment on the case, and Prime Minister Su Tseng-chang, when asked about the five, told reporters on Monday that the government cares deeply for the people of Hong Kong.
“As for helping the people of Hong Kong, we cannot reveal certain individual cases,” he said.
SOURCE:
Al Jazeera and news agencies
