[ad_1]
BEIJING: Chinese authorities formally approved the arrests on Wednesday (September 30) of 12 Hong Kong activists captured last month when they allegedly tried to flee the city for Taiwan.
The group was caught about 70 kilometers southeast of the city on August 23 while trying to escape by boat, authorities said at the time, adding that they were turned over to police in Shenzhen, the mainland metropolis that borders Hong Kong.
They had since disappeared into China’s opaque judicial system, with lawyers struggling to access them and family members expressing fear for their fate.
READ: Families fear for Hong Kong fugitives in Chinese custody
READ: Families of captured Hong Kong activists demand their return from Chinese detention
On Wednesday, the Yantian District People’s Prosecutor’s Office in Shenzhen said it had approved the arrests.
Two of the detainees, known as Deng and Qiao respectively, were arrested on suspicion of helping the others escape Hong Kong.
These names are likely to refer to the Chinese surnames of the detainees Tang Kai-yin and Quinn Moon.
The other ten, including suspects surnamed Li and Huang, were arrested for conducting illegal border crossings.
The case remains under investigation, the statement said.
READ: Carrie Lam says Hong Kong cannot demand protection of the rights of 12 arrested by China
LEE: China calls Hong Kong people arrested at sea ‘separatists’
Some of those on board the ship were facing prosecution in Hong Kong for activities related to the huge and often violent pro-democracy protests last year.
Lu Siwei, one of the mainland Chinese lawyers working on the case, told AFP that the detention period for the investigation could last up to seven months.
“The review of the legality (of the) detention can be applied at any time,” Lu added, but said that “for now it remains more important to seek a meeting with the 12 detainees.”
At least 14 mainland Chinese lawyers hired by the families of the detainees have been pressured by authorities to remove their clients, according to activists.
None of the lawyers have managed to see their clients in custody, while senior officials in Hong Kong said mainland Chinese authorities assigned lawyers to the 12.
READ: Taiwan with five Hong Kong residents picked up at sea: Sources
READ: Taiwan to ease travel restrictions for Hong Kong people for ‘humanitarian’ reasons
Hong Kong has its own internationally respected common law legal system in which detainees are promptly processed after arrest and tried in open court, but the judicial system on the mainland is notoriously opaque and controlled by the Communist Party, so the conviction is almost guaranteed.
In June, Beijing imposed a new security law on Hong Kong, announcing that it would have jurisdiction for some crimes and that mainland security agents could openly operate in the city.
The prospect of Hong Kongers becoming entangled in China’s judicial system was the spark that ignited seven months of protests last year.
The movement began in response to a plan to allow extraditions to the mainland and soon morphed into broader calls for democracy and greater police accountability.
As Beijing cracks down on Hong Kong’s democratic movement, democratic Taiwan has become a sanctuary, quietly turning a blind eye to residents who arrive without the proper visas or paperwork.
