Rights group Hong Kong Watch condemned the arrest warrants, describing them as “transnational repression.”
Hong Kong’s national security police issued arrest warrants for 19 activists based overseas on July 25, accusing them of subversion under a stringent national security law, and offering financial rewards for information leading to their arrest.
The National Security Department of the Hong Kong Police Force said in a statement that the individuals are suspected of organizing, establishing, or taking part in a group called the “Hong Kong Parliament.“
Hong Kong police accused the group—whose goals include promoting self-determination and drafting a Hong Kong constitution—of attempting to subvert state power, and of “using illegal means” to attempt to overthrow or sabotage China’s constitutional order.
Human rights group Hong Kong Watch condemned the arrests warrants on X, saying that such attempts at transnational repression should not be tolerated.
Hong Kong Police accuse the individuals of having violated Article 22 of the Hong Kong National Security Law, which was imposed by Beijing in 2020 following months of pro-democracy protests and unrest in 2019.
The law significantly eroded freedoms promised by the Chinese communist regime when the United Kingdom agreed to hand back the former British territory to China in 1997.
Critics, however, have raised concerns that the law is being used to stifle dissent and suppress freedoms, while human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, said the law was forced through by the Chinese regime without accountability or transparency.
“It was passed just weeks after it was first announced, bypassing Hong Kong’s local legislature, and the text was kept secret from the public and allegedly even the Hong Kong government until after it was enacted,” Amnesty International states on its website. “Amnesty International is insisting that Hong Kong authorities strictly adhere to their human rights obligations in implementing the NSL and that the international community hold them to account.”
Hong Kong police said on Friday that nine individuals are accused of organizing overseas elections to establish the Hong Kong Parliament, and ten people are accused of participating in the elections as candidates and, after being elected, taking an oath of office as members of the parliament.
The arrest warrants were issued by the city’s court upon request from the police, according to the statement.
