Hong Kong national security law: British parliamentary group APPG ‘concerned’ over claims activists’ arrest linked to its damning report on city police

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hong Kong also vows to produce further studies on human rights situation in city

Media reports have said group is linked to another online body that had funded inquiry and called for international sanctions

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Extradition bill protesters attend a ‘Stand with Hong Kong: Power to the People’ rally, organised by the local academic community at Chater Garden in August of 2019. Photo: Winson Wong

Published: 8:00am, 14 Aug 2020Updated: 8:17am, 14 Aug 2020

A British parliamentary group has expressed concerns over claims the recent arrests of activists in Hong Kong under the national security law were related to a damning report it released on the city’s police, which also urged London to sanction local officials.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group on Hong Kong (APPG) – an informal band of members of the British parliament – also vowed to produce further reports on the human rights situation in Hong Kong, with its next event to be held early next month.

In a high-profile operation on Monday, police arrested Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying, his son Ian Lai Yiu-yan, as well as Royston Chow Tat-kuen, the chief operating officer and chief financial officer of the newspaper’s parent company, Next Digital, on suspicion of collusion with foreign forces to endanger national security.

Former student leader Agnes Chow Ting and two other young activists accused of the same crime – Wilson Li Chung-chak and Andy　Li – were also picked up in another swoop.

Police sources had earlier accused the young trio of being “key members” behind an online group called “Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong” (SWHK), which they said had called for international sanctions after the Beijing-imposed legislation took effect on June 30, while the media tycoon – together with Royston Chow and son Ian Lai – allegedly funded the group with hundreds of thousands of dollars via overseas bank accounts over the past six weeks.

The strongly worded statement issued by the APPG on Thursday came after local media quoted sources as saying the arrests were also related to a SWHK-funded inquiry the British group had conducted on local police’s handling of the anti-government protests last year.