Responding to the arrests of around 50 Hong Kong opposition figures on Wednesday morning for violation of the city’s national security law, Amnesty International’s Asia-Pacific Regional Director Yamini Mishra said:
“This shocking crackdown on Hong Kong’s political opposition – sweeping up candidates, activists and pollsters alike – is the starkest demonstration yet of how the national security law has been weaponized to punish anyone who dares to challenge the establishment.
Background
Around 50 Hong Kong pro-democracy figures were arrested on Wednesday morning for alleged violations of Hong Kong’s national security law.
According to media reports and social media posts, they were charged with “subversion” over their organization and participation in a self-proclaimed primary for last year’s Legislative Council election, which was later postponed over COVID-19 fears.
Among the arrested were several former lawmakers and district councillors, organizer of the primaries Benny Tai and American lawyer John Clancey, who was treasurer for one of the organizers. Also arrested was Robert Chung, executive director of the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI), which provided the technology to carry out the poll.
The home of jailed activist Joshua Wong was also raided by police, according to his Twitter account, while newspapers Apple Daily and the Stand were visited by police seeking contact information of primary candidates.
The democratic camp conducted a poll last July to narrow the final list of pro-democracy candidates to run in the official legislative polls. They aimed to secure a majority in the Legislative Council by winning more than 35 seats.
At the time, the Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said the polls were illegal and warned that they could be in breach of the national security law, which had been enacted weeks earlier.