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HONG KONG: A group of Hong Kong families demanded on Saturday (September 12) the urgent return of their activist relatives arrested last month by mainland Chinese authorities as they tried to flee the city by boat to Taiwan.
Family members of six of the 12 detained activists donned masks and hats to protect their identities when they made their first public appeal for help and information about their plight, with the support of several local pro-democracy politicians.
READ: Hong Kong residents arrested at sea ‘will have to be treated’ by mainland China: Carrie Lam
Some sobbed and cried when they made various demands, including that the detainees be allowed to consult family-appointed lawyers rather than the Chinese government, and that they be allowed to call their relatives in Hong Kong.
“I can’t imagine the worst case scenario,” said a woman surnamed Li, whose 29-year-old son Li Tsz-yin is among those detained at a detention center in the southern city of Shenzhen.
“These 20 days were very hard for us, we did not know if he was alive or not,” he said.
They said they still had no information on the charges their family members were facing and that the Hong Kong government had not provided concrete assistance. A 16-year-old boy is the youngest detained.
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Several need medication, relatives said. A detainee’s brother, surnamed Tang, said he had no way of getting prescriptions for his brother’s asthma and skin allergies.
A relative of one of the 12 Hong Kong activists who were arrested while allegedly sailing to Taiwan in search of political asylum, wipes his eyes during a press conference held to seek help in Hong Kong, on September 12, 2020 (Photo : Reuters / Tyrone). Yeah)
Family members of 12 Hong Kong activists, detained while allegedly sailing to Taiwan seeking political asylum, hold a press conference seeking help in Hong Kong on September 12, 2020 (Photo: REUTERS / Tyrone Siu).
A spokesman for the Immigration Department said staff were assisting in the case and were in regular contact with the families.
The local government office in Guangdong “learned from the authorities that the 12 Hong Kong people are currently in good physical condition and have hired representatives of lawyers from mainland China.”
The Chinese Coast Guard Bureau said in a post on its social media site on August 27 that it had arrested at least 10 people on August 23 after intercepting a ship off the coast of southern Guangdong province.
Hong Kong media, citing unidentified sources, said the 12 were heading to Taiwan to apply for political asylum. Their arrests come as local activists and politicians fear a worsening of the drastic measures in the former British colony as a broad new national security law imposed by Beijing in July takes effect.
The law means the people of Hong Kong can face the mainland’s courts in serious national security cases, a prospect that has alarmed many in the former British colony.
Hong Kong has its own independent legal system and rule of law traditions very different from mainland China.
Hours before the families’ appearance, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States was deeply concerned about the activists. He noted that they had been denied access to lawyers and that local authorities had not provided any information about his well-being or the charges against him.
Hong Kong Executive Director Carrie Lam said earlier this week that if they had been arrested for violating mainland Chinese laws “then they should be treated according to mainland Chinese laws.”
