The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said via Twitter on September 18 that it urges Chinese authorities to ensure that the 12 Hong Kong people arrested at sea last month have the right to due process of law, including prompt access to a lawyer of their choice.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights tweeted, “We urge the Chinese authorities to ensure that the 12 Hong Kong people arrested at sea are afforded the right to due process of law, including prompt access to legal representation of their choice.” Recently, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also issued a statement saying, “The United States is deeply concerned that the 12 Hong Kong pro-democracy activists arrested two weeks ago off the coast of Hong Kong by the Guangdong Coast Guard were denied access to the lawyers they had hired. He noted that local authorities in China have also failed to provide information about the welfare of the arrested individuals or to disclose the charges against them. Pompeo stressed that the United States questioned Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam’s commitment to protecting the rights of citizens and urged authorities to ensure that those arrested are treated with due process of law.
With regard to international attention to the incident, Hong Kong legislator David Chu said in an interview that international and local attention is important and that “the more attention they get, the safer they (the 12 Hong Kong people) are. He believes that now that the UN has spoken out on the incident, further information can be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council, and he hopes to seek further follow-up from the UN. He hopes that the British and Portuguese governments will take a proactive approach to help their nationals, for example by granting them consular access and guaranteeing their basic rights.
In addition, the families of the 12 Hong Kong people currently detained in Shenzhen issued another statement on Saturday and reiterated their four demands, including the refusal of “government-appointed lawyers” and immediate access to the detainees by lawyers appointed by their families; the request that the Chinese authorities provide the 12 Hong Kong people with proper medication and allow them to call their families; and the request that the Hong Kong government ensure the rights of the Hong Kong people by immediately bringing the 12 Hong Kong people back to Hong Kong.
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