The Hong Kong government announced Wednesday, June 12, 2024, it has cancelled the passports of six pro-democracy activists who have fled to the United Kingdom, describing them as “lawless wanted criminals.”
This action targets former pro-democracy lawmaker Nathan Law, unionist Christopher Mung Siu-tat, and activists Finn Lau, Fok Ka-chi, Choi Ming-da, and Simon Cheng, the founder of the group Hongkongers in Britain. All six are on a list of 13 activists for whom the city had previously issued HK$1 million ($128,000) bounties over alleged national security crimes.
In a statement, a Hong Kong government spokesperson said the six “continue to blatantly engage in activities that endanger national security” and accused them of making “scaremongering remarks to smear and slander the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.”
The government warned that individuals who provide financial or other support to the named activists could face up to seven years in jail.
The crackdown follows the enactment of a national security law, known as Article 23, which grants Hong Kong authorities broad enforcement powers, including the ability to cancel passports. This move coincides with the fifth anniversary of significant clashes between protesters and police during the 2019 pro-democracy protests.
Nathan Law, now granted asylum in the UK since 2021, labeled the passport cancellation “superfluous,” as he does not rely on a Hong Kong passport. “If the government’s measures cause concern for friends in Hong Kong, please put your personal safety first,” Law advised on Facebook.
Finn Lau also criticized the government’s actions, pointing out that he only holds a British National Overseas passport. “It is ridiculous to cancel… [a Hong Kong passport] that never exists,” he stated on social media platform X, condemning the move as “an explicit act of transnational repression.”
The Hong Kong government’s intensifying crackdown has been widely criticized by international observers, including Britain and the United States, who argue that it undermines the city’s unique freedoms. Critics have accused Beijing’s imposed national security laws of dismantling the legal distinctions between Hong Kong and mainland China.
Chief Executive John Lee, sanctioned by the United States for his role as security chief during the 2019 protests, has maintained that the activists will be “pursued for life” and urged them to surrender.
Hong Kong police have also arrested five individuals accused of financially supporting the wanted activists, who have since been released on bail. Around 40 of the activists’ family members and former colleagues have been questioned over the past year.
