China’s Shenzhen Public Security Bureau has broken its silence for the first time by announcing the current status of 12 Hong Kong people intercepted by the Chinese Coast Guard and the charges they are suspected of committing. The report, released Sunday (Sept. 13), said they have been taken into criminal detention as a compulsory measure in accordance with the law on suspicion of smuggling crimes across the border. The 12 Hong Kong youths, some of whom had reportedly been involved in the anti-sending campaign, were arrested in Hong Kong as they attempted to flee the country by speedboat to seek political asylum in Taiwan.
The notification from the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau’s Yantian Branch on Sunday was the first announcement made by mainland Chinese authorities on the case.
The report said that the case of Li and Guo, the 12 illegal border-crossers seized by the Guangdong Coast Guard on Aug. 23, was under investigation and that the public security authorities would protect the legal rights of the suspects in accordance with the law.
Several lawyers hired by the families said earlier that they were told by Shenzhen authorities that the 12 Hong Kong people had been represented by other lawyers. They had been denied visits several times before, and the lawyers had received official phone calls asking them to withdraw from the case.
The families of the 12 Hong Kong people held a press conference Saturday, criticizing the continued secret detention of the detainees and the lack of news of them since the incident, as well as Chinese authorities’ use of official lawyers to deny the arrested people the right to hire lawyers.
The families made four demands at the press conference on Sunday: that the “official lawyer” be rejected; that the authorities provide the detainees with proper medication; that the authorities allow the detainees to talk to their families on the phone; and that the Hong Kong government ensure the rights of the 12 Hong Kong people by bringing them back to Hong Kong immediately.
So far, neither the mainland nor Hong Kong authorities have publicly identified the 12 Hong Kong people, except for Sunday’s report, which mentioned “Li so-and-so and Guo so-and-so,” but Hong Kong media reported that one of them is a member of the Hong Kong NGO Hong Kong Story, which is involved in the anti-sending campaign. “Member. He was arrested by Hong Kong police on Aug. 10 on suspicion of violating Hong Kong’s version of the National Security Law, and was later released on bail. The other arrestee has dual Hong Kong and Portuguese citizenship, Reuters reported.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo expressed deep concern over the detention of the 12 Hong Kong people, including pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong. Pompeo said in a statement on September 11 that Chinese authorities have denied them access to lawyers since their arrests and have not provided information about them, including their rights and the charges they may face.
U.S. State Department spokesman Moegan Ortagus tweeted Saturday that the arrests of the 12 Hong Kong residents, who are democracy activists in Hong Kong, are another sad example of the deteriorating human rights situation in the city.
In response, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying tweeted Sunday (Sept. 13) in English, “Fact check: the 12 were arrested for crossing the border at sea, they are not democracy activists, and they are trying to split Hong Kong from China.
A spokesman for the Office of the Chinese Commissioner in Hong Kong (OCMAC) said in a statement posted on its website Saturday that it “expresses its strong dissatisfaction with and objection to the accusations made by individual U.S. politicians regarding a case of illegal border crossing by Hong Kong residents that is still under investigation.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Mrs. Carrie Lam was asked last week if some of the detainees could not meet with their lawyers, if their legal rights were protected, and how the SAR government would follow up. Mrs. Lam replied that the Hong Kong government, including the Guangdong Office, would do its utmost to follow up and assist the families’ needs. She said that the case was not simply a matter of bringing the people concerned back to Hong Kong, but that the 12 Hong Kong people, if arrested for violating the laws of mainland China, must be dealt with in accordance with mainland laws.
However, the families of the 12 Hong Kong residents accused the Hong Kong government at a press conference Saturday of never providing any substantial assistance.
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