Hong Kong offers bounties for eight exiled pro-democracy protesters

July 4 (UPI) -- The Hong Kong Police Force on Monday announced arrest warrants and bounties for eight self-exiled prominent pro-democracy activists charged under a controversial national security law that has been widely condemned by democratic countries.

The Hong Kong Police Force announced arrest warrants and bounties of roughly $127,680 for each of Kevin Yam, 46; Yuan Gong-yi, 74; Anna Kwok Fung-yee, 26; Kwok Wing-hang, 45; Hui Chi-fung, 41; Mung Siu-tat, 51; Lau Cho-dik, 29; and Nathan Law Kwun-chung, 29.

According to a statement from the Hong Kong Police Force, the eight people "have fled overseas [and] are alleged to have continued to commit offenses under the Hong Kong National Security Law that seriously endanger national security."

The allegations the activists are accused of committing while abroad include calling for sanctions and other punitive actions to be imposed by foreign countries on China over the national security law.

"Endangering national security is a very serious offense. This kind of acts or activities may lead to extremely serious consequences," a police spokesman said, while warning others that it is illegal to aid, abet or provide "pecuniary or other financial assistance" to those accused of endangering national security.

The warrants were issued under a draconian national security law China imposed on the former British colony in 2020 in response to mass pro-democracy protests that had rocked the city and brought it to a standstill.

The law -- which criminalizes with heavy sentences vaguely defined acts of secession, sedition, subversion, terrorism and working with foreign agencies to undermine the national security of China -- was met with widespread censure that included sanctions, while Britain created pathways to citizenship for millions of Hong Kong residents.

Critics have accused the law of eroding the city's mini-constitution as well as essentially ending the One Country, Two Systems framework Hong Kong has functioned under since its return from British to Chinese rule in 1997, which afforded the city freedoms the mainland did not have.

The law also prompted an exodus of activists behind the 2019-2020 protests that saw millions take to the streets over a controversial extradition law but evolved to encompass larger pro-democracy demands.

Kwok, executive director of the Hong Kong Democracy Council, said she awoke to news Monday that a reward had been offered for her arrest.

"The Hong Kong government is absurdly overreaching by issuing a bounty for myself and seven other activists in exile. It has no authority to arrest anyone overseas," she said in a statement.

According to a Hong Kong Police Force document, Kwok has been charged for calling on the international community in September 2021 and December 2022 to impose sanctions on China over its repression of Hong Kong. She said was outside of Hong Kong at the time.

Law, who obtained refugee status in Britain, described the charges against him as being "classic examples of abusing the concept of 'national security,' pushing its definition to an extreme to suppress dissident voices."

"I am just a Hongkonger who speaks out for Hongkongers," he said on Twitter after his arrest warrant was announced. "I hope that all friends on the list are well, and I ask Hongkongers not to cooperate with any related pursuit or bounty actions. We should not limit ourselves, self-censor, be intimidated or live in fear."

The Hong Kong Police Force announced the arrest warrants during a press conference in which authorities said 260 people have been arrested under the national security law, most for having committed offenses while in Hong Kong.

Steve Li Kwai-wah, chief superintendent of the national security department of the Hong Kong Police Force, told reporters that under the law they have extraterritorial jurisdiction and the responsibility to pursue those overseas who violate it, whether they are Hong Kong residents or not.

Asked why these warrants and reward offers were being announced now, Li, who was sanctioned by the United States in 2021, said it was done to locate the accused in preparation of making arrests if they should return to Hong Kong.

The arrest warrants and bounties were swiftly met with chastisement from the United States, Australia and Britain.

"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," U.S. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement, while calling on the Hong Kong government to "immediately" withdraw the bounties and stop "the international assertion" of the national security law.

Human Rights Watch called the move "a feeble attempt to intimated activists and elected representatives" outside Hong Kong who speak out against Beijing's growing repression.

"The Hong Kong government's charges and bounties against eight Hong Kong people in exile reflects the growing importance of the diaspora's political activism," Maya Wang, associate Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.

"Foreign governments should not only publicly reject cooperating with National Security Law cases, but should take concrete actions to hold top Beijing and Hong Kong officials accountable."