Hong Kong police arrest 11 on suspicion of aiding activists' escape attempt: Reports
14 January, 2021
Hong Kong police possess arrested 11 persons over suspected crimes related to assisting several 12 activists accused of wanting to flee the town by boat for Taiwan last year, native media and activists reported on Thursday (Jan 14).
Those arrested, ages 18 to 72, according to native broadcaster RTHK, included eight men and three women.
Daniel Wong, a legal professional who tried to greatly help the 12 people detained in China previous August, was among those arrested.
Wong wrote on Facebook that police attained his apartment at 6am local time.
Police told Reuters these were still gathering info and could not help to make any immediate comment.
Regional media said those arrested were suspected of assisting the 12 Hong Kong residents, who faced charges linked to anti-government protests in the location in 2019, within their attempt to flee this past year.
In later December, a Chinese court sentenced 10 of them to between seven a few months and 3 years in prison for illegally crossing the border, in a case that drew international attention and concern over the treatment of the activists.
Two, who had been minors at the time of arrest, have already been returned to Hong Kong.
The detainees' families said that they had been denied usage of independent legal representatives and aired suspicion that Hong Kong authorities helped in China's arrests.
Taiwan has become a popular destination for Hong Kong activists since Beijing imposed a national security law in June 2020, a maneuver that critics say is targeted at stamping out dissent and curbing freedoms.
More than 100 people have been arrested beneath the national security law.
Hong Kong came back to Chinese rule in 1997 with the promise of freedoms not seen in China, including freedom of speech and assembly. Democracy activists complain that Communist Get together rulers in China are whittling away at those freedoms, a demand Beijing rejects.
AMERICA and EU have needed the activists to be released and allowed to return to Hong Kong.
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