Hong Kong police have arrested six people, marking the first time that Hong Kong’s new national security law (Article 23) has been used against suspects since it came into force in March.
The six, aged between 37 and 65, are accused of publishing messages with inflammatory intent ahead of a “looming important date”, a police statement said.
One of the arrested women is currently in prison – local media reports she is Zhou Hengdong, a prominent lawyer and human rights activist who is also incarcerated on other charges.
Police said they had searched the homes of the five other people arrested and seized electronic devices. “Those who seek to endanger national security should not think that being anonymous online will allow them to evade police pursuit,” they said.
Chow is a former vice-chairman of the Hong Kong Alliance to Support Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, a pro-democracy group that was dissolved in 2021 amid a crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong.
Next Tuesday, June 4, marks 35 years since the People’s Liberation Army massacred protesters around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square in 1989. Estimates of the number killed range from hundreds to thousands.
Discussion of the incident is heavily censored in China, with public memorials banned and online platforms removing all mention of the killings. The date is considered so sensitive in China that people sometimes refer to the incident as “May 35th”, an allusion to “June 4th”.
For decades, Hong Kong was the only place on Chinese soil to hold large-scale commemorations of the Tiananmen Square massacre, with tens of thousands of people gathering for an annual vigil in Victoria Park.
But since 2020, authorities have initially banned vigils, citing anti-COVID-19 restrictions on large gatherings. In 2021, the Hong Kong League in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movement, which organized the June 4 vigil, was disbanded after several of its committee members, including Chow, were arrested and jailed.
Hong Kong’s security chief, Chris Tang, said on Tuesday the arrests were made in connection with a Facebook group that called for support for Chow. According to the Hong Kong Free Press.
“As for the sensitive date, I actually think the date itself is not important,” Tang said. “What’s most important is that people who want to endanger national security have used this incident to incite hatred.”
The charges announced Tuesday carry a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.
“Hong Kong Watch condemns this first round of arrests under the dangerous Article 23 law. The Hong Kong authorities’ plans to criminalize completely acceptable peaceful activity in line with international human rights law should be taken seriously and responded to accordingly,” said Hong Kong Watch co-founder Benedict Rogers.
The new national security law’s official name is the “Ordinance on Safeguarding National Security,” a reference to Article 23 of the Basic Law of Hong Kong, the mini-constitution that governs the special administrative region of China. The law was passed unanimously by Hong Kong’s non-opposition legislature and came into effect in March.
Hong Kong police and security authorities have been contacted for comment.
