Hong Kong police issue arrest warrants, bounties for 6 activists, including 2 Canadians
Hong Kong police on Tuesday announced a fresh round of arrest warrants for six activists based overseas — including two Canadian citizens — with bounties set at $185,000 for information leading to their arrests.
According to the warrants, the six are wanted for national security offences such as secession, subversion and collusion with foreign forces. They include Tony Chung, the former leader of now-defunct pro-independence group Studentlocalism.
U.K.-based Carmen Lau, a former district councillor and current activist with the Hong Kong Democracy Council, as well as Chloe Cheung, an activist with the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong, also had warrants issued against them.
The latest round of warrants signals that the Hong Kong government is targeting vocal critics based abroad.
The government had previously issued two rounds of arrest warrants and bounties for more prominent activists, including ex-lawmakers Ted Hui and Nathan Law.
The increasing number of wanted individuals abroad comes as Hong Kong continues to crack down on political dissent following massive anti-government protests in 2019 that resulted in a wave of pro-democracy movements. Many outspoken pro-democracy activists have since been jailed, with others fleeing abroad.
Activists react to bounties placed on their head
Chung, the former Studentlocalism leader, said in a story posted to Instagram that he was “honoured” to be the first Hong Konger to be accused of violating the national security law twice.
“As a staunch Hong Kong nationalist, today’s wanted notice is undoubtedly a kind of affirmation for me. In the future, I will continue to unswervingly and fearlessly promote the self-determination of Hong Kong,” he wrote.
Separately, Cheung, who is based in the U.K., said in an Instagram post that “even in the face of a powerful enemy, I will continue to do what I believe is right.”
“How fragile, incompetent, and cowardly does a regime have to be to believe that I, a 19-year-old, ordinary Hongkonger, can ‘endanger’ and ‘divide’ the country? How panicked are they that they have to put a million-dollar bounty on me?” she asked.
Article 23, a controversial national security law in Hong Kong, has come into effect. Many fear the crackdown on dissent will further erode civil liberties.
Lau posted on X a call for governments, including those of the U.K., U.S., and EU countries, to “impose sanctions on Hong Kong human rights perpetrators without further delay” and urged democracies to support Hong Kong’s right to self-determination.
“The Hong Kong government’s latest round of arrest warrants and bounties against six Hong Kong activists is a cowardly act of intimidation that aims to silence Hong Kong people,” said Maya Wang, associate China director at Human Rights Watch.
“The six — including two Canadian citizens — live in the U.K. and Canada. We call on the U.K. and Canadian governments to act immediately to push back against the Hong Kong government’s attempts to threaten Hong Kongers living in their countries.”
Tuesday’s arrest warrants take the total number of wanted people to 19.
Others on the list Tuesday are: Chung Kim-wah, previously a senior member of independent polling organization Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute; Joseph Tay, co-founder of Canada-based NGO HongKonger Station; and YouTuber Victor Ho.
Separately Tuesday, the Hong Kong government issued orders for the cancellation of passports belonging to seven “absconders,” including ex-lawmakers Hui and Dennis Kwok, who are wanted under the security law.
The orders were made under Hong Kong’s domestic national security law — known as Article 23 — and also prohibits the seven from dealing with funds in Hong Kong as well as activities related to joint ventures and property.
Published at Tue, 24 Dec 2024 12:18:51 +0000
Israeli army forces patients out of a north Gaza hospital: medics
Israeli troops forced the evacuation of the Indonesian Hospital in northern Gaza and many patients, some of them on foot, arrived at another hospital miles away in Gaza City, the territory’s health ministry said on Tuesday.
The Indonesian Hospital is one of the Gaza Strip’s few still partially functioning hospitals, on its northern edge, an area that has been under intense Israeli military pressure for nearly three months.
Israel says its operation around the three northern Gaza communities surrounding the hospital — Beit Lahiya, Beit Hanoun and Jabalia — is targeting Hamas militants.
Palestinians accuse Israel of seeking to permanently depopulate northern Gaza to create a buffer zone, which Israel denies.
Munir Al-Bursh, director of the health ministry in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip, said the Israeli army had ordered hospital officials to evacuate it on Monday, before storming it in the early hours of Tuesday and forcing those inside to leave.
He said two other medical facilities in northern Gaza, Al-Awda and Kamal Adwan Hospitals, were also subject to frequent assaults by Israeli troops operating in the area.
“Occupation forces have taken the three hospitals out of medical service because of the repeated attacks that undermined them and destroyed parts of them,” Bursh said in a statement Tuesday.
The Israeli military said it was looking into the report.
Hospital officials refusing to evacuate, leave patients
Officials at the three hospitals have so far refused orders by Israel to evacuate their facilities or leave patients unattended since the new military offensive began on Oct. 5.
Israel says it has been facilitating the delivery of medical supplies, fuel and the transfer of patients to other hospitals in the enclave during that period in collaboration with international agencies such as the World Health Organization.
Hussam Abu Safiya, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, said they resisted a new order by the army to evacuate hundreds of patients, their companions and staff, adding that the hospital has been under constant Israeli fire that damaged generators, oxygen pumps and parts of the building.
Israeli forces have operated in the vicinity of the hospital since Monday, medics said.
Meanwhile, Israeli bombardment continued elsewhere in the enclave and medics said at least nine Palestinians, including a member of the civil emergency service, were killed in four separate military strikes across the enclave on Tuesday.
The war in Gaza was triggered by Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel, in which 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
Israel’s campaign against Hamas has since killed more than 45,200 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. Most of the population of 2.3 million has been displaced and much of Gaza is in ruins.
Talks to broker a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas have restarted in Cairo, and sources close to negotiations say an agreement could be signed in coming days. Palestinians in southern Gaza say they hope this round of talks will see the war ending so life can resume.
A fresh bid by mediators Egypt, Qatar and the United States to end the fighting and release Israeli and foreign hostages has gained momentum this month, though no breakthrough has yet been reported.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday said progress had been made in hostage negotiations with Hamas, but that he did not know how much longer it would take to see the results.
Gaps between Israel and Hamas over a possible Gaza ceasefire have narrowed, according to Israeli and Palestinian officials’ remarks on Monday, though crucial differences have yet to be resolved.
Published at Tue, 24 Dec 2024 13:47:11 +0000