Eight overseas-based activists were charged today by Hong Kong police with “serious” national security offenses, such as foreign cooperation, and a HK$1 million ($127,656) reward was offered for information that would result in an arrest.
According to authorities, those targeted include attorneys Kevin Yam and Nathan Law, former politicians Dennis Kwok and Ted Hui, and Anna and Nathan Kwok.
The activists are based all over the world, notably in the US, UK, and Australia. None of them could be reached right away according to Reuters.
At the press briefing, police reported that 260 people had been detained under a national security law imposed by China since it went into effect in 2020, with 79 of them having been found guilty of various offenses, including terrorism and subversion.
Some nations, including the United States, claim that Hong Kong’s rights and freedoms have been compromised by the national security law, which has been used as a tool to repress the city’s pro-democracy movement.
Although the former British colony was rocked by continuous anti-China riots in 2019, Chinese and Hong Kong officials claim the law has restored stability.
