It is currently free. The 23-year-old now fears that he will be sent to a “black prison” in China.

Twelve people have been arrested after trying to escape by boat from Hong Kong this week.

Joshua Wong, 23, has been arrested and jailed several times before. Now he fears that next time it will be much, much worse.

– It seems it’s only a matter of time before they arrest me. Then they can immediately extradite me to China. Nothing would have been worse, he told the British Financial Times newspaper.

He adds that he fears being sent to the so-called “black prison”, where suspected criminals, including political dissidents, can “disappear” without law or trial, and without notifying relatives or lawyers.

– There are many who ask me if I am prepared for what is going to happen, says Wong.

– Then I answer: Of course, no one will be ready to serve a sentence in a black prison in Beijing forever.

I tried to escape by boat to Taiwan.

Joshua Wong became one of the most famous democracy activists in Hong Kong during the so-called “umbrella movement” in 2014. He later founded his own political party, Demosisto.

When the Chinese authorities introduced a new security law for Hong Kong on June 30, Wong decided to shut down the party. In August, Agnes Chow, co-founder of Demosisto, was arrested. And earlier this summer, the party’s third founder, Nathan Law, fled to Europe.

The new security law has created great fear among democracy activists in Hong Kong. Many consider fleeing, but coronary restrictions have made it even more difficult than it would be otherwise.

Therefore, some choose to leave Hong Kong by boat. This weekend, the Chinese Coast Guard arrested 12 people as they tried to flee to Taiwan. A well-known activist is said to be among those arrested, according to The Guardian.

Chinese Foreign Minister Warns Against Peace Prize

The demo trains that marked much of 2019 have disappeared from the streets of Hong Kong. But the move remains a nuisance to the Beijing authorities. It was clear when Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Oslo on Thursday.

When asked by Aftenposten how China would react if Hong Kong activists receive the Nobel Peace Prize this year, Wang responded as follows:

– In the past, present and future, China will certainly reject all attempts to use the Nobel Peace Prize to interfere in China’s internal affairs. This attitude on the part of China is rock solid.

Wang added that China would not accept anyone who tries to “politicize the Nobel Peace Prize.”

The Hong Kong protesters were nominated for this year’s Peace Prize by Guri Melby (V) in October 2019. She is currently the Minister of Education and was recently appointed by the Liberal Party nominating committee to become the new leader. of the party.

Melby has received Wang’s proposal, but does not want to comment beyond this:

“The Nobel Committee is independent and the Government cannot and will not limit the committee’s decision-making processes,” he wrote in an SMS.

He adds that the Foreign Minister, Ine Eriksen Søreide, has said the same.

Eriksen Søreide: took over Hong Kong with Wang

Norway was put in a political and diplomatic “freezer” by the Chinese authorities when Chinese pro-democracy activist Liu Xiaobo received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010. It wasn’t until 2016 that relations normalized, after Norway formally promised to “do everything possible to avoid damaging it. ” bilateral relationship ».

Foreign Minister Wang Yi did not need to remind Norwegian authorities of this agreement when he visited Oslo on Thursday, but nonetheless issued a warning of sorts:

– China and Norway should handle sensitive issues properly to prevent the relationship, which has improved thanks to hard work, from getting worse again, Wang told Eriksen Søreide at the meeting Thursday afternoon, according to the Foreign Ministry of China.

The Norwegian foreign minister says she raised the situation in Hong Kong during the meeting with Wang Yi on Thursday.

– It is natural that all the time we see that the elections are postponed and that opposition politicians are arrested. There is widespread fear that “one country, two systems” and Hong Kong’s Basic Law (the city’s mini-constitution, editor’s note) are in danger, Eriksen Søreide tells Aftenposten.