HONG KONG, China -- Hong Kong's leader has called on eight overseas activists to turn themselves in a day after police put out bounties on them for violating the city's national security law.

 

Hong Kong activist Nathan Law/AFP

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Police on Monday issued bounties of HK$1 million ($128,000) each for eight prominent democracy activists based abroad, accusing them of crimes such as subversion and colluding with foreign forces.

City leader John Lee said Tuesday that he supported the police action and called on the activists to surrender themselves.

"The only way to end their destiny of being an abscondee, who will be pursued for life, is to surrender," Lee told reporters, adding they would otherwise "spend their days in fear".

All eight fled Hong Kong after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on the financial hub in 2020 to quell dissent after huge, sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in 2019 were quashed.

Lee called on the public to assist police, adding that even "relatives and friends" of the activists can be informants.

The move has been criticized by the United States, Britain and Australia -- countries where some of the wanted activists reside.

China has accused the UK of giving protection to fugitives after its foreign secretary slammed Hong Kong's decision to offer bounties for information leading to the capture of prominent democracy activists based overseas.

"British politicians have openly offered protection for fugitives," a spokesperson for Beijing's embassy in London said in a statement late Monday, condemning what it called "crude interference in Hong Kong's rule of law and China's internal affairs."

"I'm not afraid of any political pressure that is put on us, because we do what we believe is right," Lee said Tuesday.All eight fled Hong Kong after Beijing imposed a sweeping national security law on the financial hub in mid-2020 to quell dissent after huge, sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in 2019 were quashed.

"They have committed very serious offences that endanger national security," said Steven Li, chief superintendent of the national security department.

The group includes former pro-democracy lawmakers Nathan Law Kwun-chung, Ted Hui Chi-fung and Dennis Kwok Wing-hang, and veteran unionist Mung Siu-tat.

The remaining four are activists Elmer Yuen Gong-yi, Finn Lau Cho-dik, Anna Kwok Fung-yee and Kevin Yam Kin-fung.

All eight are alleged to have colluded with foreign forces to endanger national security -- an offence that carries a sentence of up to life in prison.

Some have also been accused of subversion, incitement to subversion and secession.

"They advocated for sanctions to damage Hong Kong's interests and intimidate Hong Kong's officials with some targeting specifically some judges and prosecutors," Li said.

He added that police cannot arrest the eight if they remain overseas.

"But we will not stop (chasing them)", he said.

US slams bounties as 'dangerous' precedent

The United States on Monday condemned Hong Kong authorities for issuing bounties linked to democracy activists based abroad, saying the move sets a dangerous precedent that could threaten human rights.

"The United States condemns the Hong Kong Police Force's issuance of an international bounty" against the eight activists, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.

"The extraterritorial application of the Beijing-imposed National Security Law is a dangerous precedent that threatens the human rights and fundamental freedoms of people all over the world," he added, saying China is engaging in "transnational repression efforts."

"We call on the Hong Kong government to immediately withdraw this bounty, respect other countries' sovereignty, and stop the international assertion of the National Security Law imposed by Beijing."

Human Rights Watch (HRW) also weighed in from its New York headquarters to attack the bounties as "baseless" and an expansion of China's "political intimidation campaign beyond its borders."

"The Hong Kong government increasingly goes above and beyond to persecute peaceful dissent both within Hong Kong and abroad," Maya Wang, HRW's associate Asia director, said in a statement.

"Offering a cross-border bounty is a feeble attempt to intimidate activists and elected representatives outside Hong Kong who speak up for people's rights against Beijing's growing repression."

The national security law -- which has reshaped Hong Kong society and busted down the legal firewall that once existed between the special autonomous region and the mainland -- has the power to hold accused people across the world accountable.

Under the law, security cases are handled by designated police officers, prosecutors and judges in Hong Kong, and Beijing can take over certain cases to try them in the mainland's opaque, Communist Party-controlled justice system.

The announcement of the wanted list came two days after the city celebrated the 26th anniversary of its handover from Britain to China.

It was also the third anniversary of the promulgation of the national security law.

'Ridiculous'

In Hong Kong, 260 people have been arrested under the law, with more than 160 individuals and five companies charged. The bulk of the accused are prominent pro-democracy politicians, activists, unionists and journalists.

One of the accused activists Yam -- a former lawyer in Hong Kong and an Australian citizen -- told AFP he was saddened for Hong Kong.

"This reflects how far Hong Kong has fallen," Yam said. "The Hong Kong and China authorities are trying to say that their laws have global reach."

Another accused, Ted Hui, who is in exile in Australia, said the bounty was "ridiculous and hilarious" but would add to the weight of China's persecution against the Hong Kong diaspora.

"It even makes it clearer to the western democracies that China is going towards a more extreme authoritarian (direction) and (is posing) more of a threat to the world," Hui told AFP in a written response.

Nathan Law -- once Hong Kong's youngest elected legislator and now on the wanted list -- rejected the allegations and called on Hong Kong people not to cooperate for the bounties.

"I am just a HongKonger who speaks out for HongKongers," Law wrote on Twitter. "We should not limit ourselves, self-censor, be intimidated, or live in fear."

In Hong Kong, Eunice Yung, a serving legislator and the daughter-in-law of accused activist Elmer Yuen, supported the police move against Yuen and emphasized that she had openly severed ties with him last year.

"All his acts and deeds have nothing to do with me," Yung wrote on her social media page.

In London, UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly warned China: "We will not tolerate any attempts by China to intimidate and silence individuals in the UK and overseas.

"The UK will always defend the universal right to freedom of expression and stand up for those who are targeted."

The UK has been vocal in condemning China over what it sees as the erosion of rights and civil liberties in its former colony.

In 2020, it suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong in protest at Beijing's introduction of the national security law in the territory.

It was one of 10 countries, including the United States, Australia and Canada, to suspend mutual legal assistance in criminal matters with Hong Kong.