LONDON — He woke up to find he had a million-dollar bounty on his head.
But Finn Lau, a pro-democracy activist from Hong Kong, said he was not surprised to see the lucrative reward next to his mugshot on the arrest warrant issued earlier this week by the national security police on Chinese soil. .
“These kinds of rewards or security risks will not stop me from continuing to stand up for human rights and democracy in Hong Kong,” he told NBC News by phone Tuesday from his London apartment.
Hong Kong authorities are offering HK$1 million ($128,000) each for information leading to the arrest of Lau and seven other activists living in self-exile in the United States, Britain and Australia. They are the first such cash rewards since Beijing imposed a national security law on the city in June 2020, which the activists are accused of violating.
The announcement comes as the international financial hub is trying to repair its image damaged by years of Covid restrictions, as well as the national security law, which the US and others say is being used to erode the freedoms promised to Hong Kong, a former British colony, upon its return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997.
Chinese and Hong Kong authorities say the law was needed to restore stability after anti-government protests rocked the city for months in 2019, turning violent at times.
The United States, Britain and Australia, all of which suspended their extradition treaties with Hong Kong after the national security law was imposed, condemned the rewards, describing them as an attempt by China to intimidate and silence critics in the foreign.
The extraterritorial application of national security law “sets a dangerous precedent that threatens the human rights and fundamental freedoms of individuals around the world,” the State Department said. said in a statement.
Chinese and Hong Kong authorities accuse the three countries of harboring “fugitives” and say the United States, Britain and Australia have also sought to apply their national security laws outside their own territories.
The charges against the eight activists include urging foreign governments to impose sanctions on Hong Kong and advocating Hong Kong’s independence from China.
Since moving abroad, the activists have “continued to instigate the division of the country and subversion of state power, acting as pawns of external forces against China in its effort to interfere in Hong Kong affairs,” the spokesperson for the Hong Kong said. Chinese Foreign Ministry Mao Ning at a regular briefing in Beijing on Tuesday.
Chief Executive John Lee, Hong Kong’s top leader, has said the eight activists will be “hunted for life”, urging them to surrender. He encouraged “anyone”, including friends and family, to help in his arrest.
speaking from afar
Since leaving Hong Kong for the British capital in January 2020, Lau has continued to speak out about the issues plaguing his former home.
Chief among his concerns is the national security law, which criminalizes secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces. The law carries penalties of up to life in prison and asserts jurisdiction over all people in the world, regardless of nationality or location.
More than 250 people in Hong Kong have been arrested under the legislation, including 47 politicians and pro-democracy activists, most of whom have been held without bail for more than two years.
