Jailed pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong has been hit with further national security charges, a move rights groups said showed the Hong Kong government was trying to keep dissidents behind bars for as long as possible. Wong, who has been in jail for more than four years either awaiting trial or serving sentences, is accused of conspiracy to collude with a foreign country. He appeared in court on Friday to hear the charge and did not apply for bail.
Hong Kong’s national security police said in a statement they had arrested a 28-year-old man on suspicion of the offence, as well as for “dealing with property known or believed to represent proceeds of an indictable offence”. According to the charge sheet, Wong is accused of conspiring with fellow democracy activist Nathan Law, who is in exile overseas, and others to ask foreign countries, institutions, organizations, or individuals outside China to impose sanctions or blockades. He is also accused of conspiring to ask foreign parties to “seriously disrupt the formulation and implementation of laws and policies” in Hong Kong and China, Hong Kong Free Press reported.
The charge comes under Hong Kong’s national security law, which was imposed on the city by Beijing in 2020 after the 2019 pro-democracy protests brought the city to a standstill. The law has been criticized by foreign governments and rights groups as overly broad and ill-defined, and easily weaponized to crush the opposition by criminalizing even benign acts of dissent. Human Rights Watch’s associate China director, Maya Wong, called the new charges against Wong “arbitrary, cruel and outrageous”.
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