Self-exiled Hong Kong democracy activist Nathan Law declared he had received no help from family members in the city, hours after authorities called them in for questioning.
“I can definitely say that the relevant individuals have no financial dealings with me, and my work has nothing to do with them,” Law wrote in a statement Tuesday on his official Facebook page. “The claim of assistance is completely baseless.”
Law’s parents and elder brother were questioned and then released by Hong Kong authorities on Tuesday, local media reported. Their home in the city’s Tung Chung area was also searched early Tuesday morning.
Law’s family was questioned to find out whether they provided financial aid to him and if they acted as his agent in Hong Kong, local media outlet HK01 reported. The police have not announced why they brought the three in for questioning or searched their house and didn’t respond to questions from Bloomberg News on the matter.
Hong Kong officials last week placed a HK$1 million ($127,750) bounty on Law and seven other activists, all of whom are now in exile overseas. The police also issued new arrest warrants for the eight, alleging they had committed offenses against the city’s national security law even after leaving the city.
After the bounty was announced Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee pledged a lifetime pursuit for Law and the others and encouraged their friends and family to provide information that could lead to their arrests, saying police would use “all possible legal means” to achieve that goal.
Beijing imposed the law in June 2020 following anti-government protests in the city. The law asserts global jurisdiction for cases involving terrorism, secession, subversion and collusion with foreign powers and carries a sentence of up to life in prison.
Law moved to the UK shortly before the law took effect and has since been granted asylum by the British government. Shortly after leaving Hong Kong, he announced on his Twitter account that he’d cut ties with his family.
The move to question Law’s family underscores the risks Hong Kong-based relatives and friends of those wanted under the security law face if they remain in contact with the suspects. Senior Superintendent Hung Ngan, a member of the police’s national security department, warned members of the public last week that making contact with any of the suspects could be “risky.”
Several British politicians took to Twitter Tuesday to condemn the police action this week, with UK Member of Parliament Alicia Kearns calling the incident “utterly outrageous” and Catherine West saying that attempts to silence those who stand up for the rights of Hong Kong were “completely unacceptable.”
The Chinese embassy in the UK then attacked criticism of the police by unnamed British politicians, claiming this “blatantly interfered in China’s internal affairs and the rule of law in Hong Kong,” adding that “the Hong Kong police handle cases in accordance with the law.”
