DHong Kong rights activist Zhou Handong is waiting for the police.At 6:30 in the morning, she started to get up Facebook They reported on the scene that they were about to be arrested. In the early hours of Wednesday morning, at least four pro-democracy activists were taken away by the Hong Kong National Security Police Unit. Zhou was one of them. They are all the main members of the organization, which organized more than 30 years of memorial activities for the victims of the Tiananmen Massacre in Hong Kong and operated a memorial hall for a period of time.
Since Sunday at the latest, the Hong Kong Alliance for the Chinese Patriotic and Democratic Movement has clearly become a police target. At the press conference, Ms. Zhou and her colleagues announced that they would not provide contact information for all foreign and Taiwanese partners as required by the police. Zhou, who works as a lawyer, said the order represents an arbitrary abuse of power without any legal basis. The purpose is to prevent setting a precedent here.
“Foreign Agent”
The security authorities defended their investigation on the grounds that the organization was suspected to be an “agent of a foreign power”, which Zhou and her team strongly denied. The police subsequently threatened that refusing to cooperate could lead to a maximum of six months’ imprisonment. The visit is on Wednesday. Zhou’s family told the South China Morning Post that the police handcuffed the activist and ransacked her home. As a lawyer, Zhou represents at least another human rights activist, and he is expected to hold a bail hearing in court on Wednesday.
Mr. Zhou led the Tiananmen Memorial Organization on behalf of Chairman Li Zhuoren. Chairman Li Zhuoren has been detained since last year. This month, the organization actually wants to decide to disband. Many well-known civil society organizations have already taken this step due to concerns about the consequences of the national security law.
Freeze accounts without a court ruling
The board of media company Next Digital disbanded a few days ago, and its most important newspaper, Apple Daily, ceased publication in June. Next Digital is the lifelong masterpiece of billionaire and democracy patron Jimmy Lai, who is currently serving 20 months in prison. Next Digital also mentioned the extrajudicial actions of the Hong Kong security authorities.
The company said in a statement that the company’s account was frozen without a court order and therefore cannot continue to operate. Although no legal proceedings have been initiated, threats from the head of the security agency alone are sufficient to determine the company’s fate. According to the Securities Law, “a company can be forced to liquidate without involving the courts”.
