Hong Kong cancels passports and bans monetary assist for 16 abroad activists

[ad_1] HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong authorities on Monday strengthened a crackdown on 16 overseas-based activists who had been beforehand focused by bounties on suspicion of endangering nationwide safety, implementing measures that embody banning monetary assist to them and canceling passports for many of them.

The activists had been amongst 19 individuals who had been focused with arrest warrants in July for alleged roles in Hong Kong Parliament, a gaggle the police referred to as a subversive group overseas. The group shouldn't be town’s official legislature and its affect is proscribed.

Three of the unique 19 activists had been already targeted by similar measures final yr.

Secretary for Safety Chris Tang banned offering funds or financial sources to the 16 activists, together with Victor Ho, Keung Ka-wai, Australian educational Chongyi Feng and U.S. citizen Gong Sasha, the Hong Kong authorities stated in a press release.

Journey paperwork had been canceled for 12 of the 16 who maintain Hong Kong passports.

The federal government additionally prohibited properties from being leased to the individuals on the checklist or forming joint ventures with them. Anybody violating the orders dangers a penalty of as much as seven years in jail.

The 16 activists are hiding within the U.Ok., the U.S., Canada, Germany, Australia, Thailand and Taiwan, amongst different areas, the federal government stated, accusing them of continuous to interact in actions endangering nationwide safety.

The discover additionally accused them of desiring to incite hatred towards Beijing and Hong Kong via smear and slander.

“We due to this fact have taken such measures to make a major influence,” the assertion stated.

Beijing imposed a national security law on the territory in 2020 that has successfully worn out most public dissent following large anti-government protests in 2019. Many activists had been arrested, silenced or pressured into self-exile.

The measures introduced Monday had been issued beneath the powers granted by Hong Kong’s homegrown national security law enacted final yr.

The arrest warrants issued in July have drawn criticism from international governments, together with the U.S., the U.Ok. and the European Union. Police supplied rewards of 200,000 Hong Kong {dollars} ($25,480) to 1 million Hong Kong {dollars} ($127,400) for data resulting in their arrests.

In a July assertion, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the strikes.

“The extraterritorial concentrating on of Hong Kongers who're exercising their elementary freedoms is a type of transnational repression,” he stated. “We is not going to tolerate the Hong Kong authorities’s makes an attempt to use its nationwide safety legal guidelines to silence or intimidate Individuals or anybody on U.S. soil.”

The Hong Kong workplace of the Chinese language Overseas Ministry responded by opposing criticism from international politicians, insisting the actions had been professional.

The governements in Beijing and Hong Kong stated the safety legal guidelines had been obligatory for town’s stability.

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