Hong Kong authorities detain and deport Reporters Without Borders campaigner

A representative of an international non-governmental organisation advocating for press freedom was denied entry to Hong Kong and deported on Wednesday as the organisation sought to meet journalists and monitor a high-profile national security trial in the city.

Reporters Without Borders said on Wednesday evening its Taipei-based advocacy officer Aleksandra Bielakowska was searched and questioned in a detention lasting six hours at the Hong Kong International Airport before she was deported.

“They detained me for six hours, questioned me, and searched me and my belongings several times,” she said. “After all this, I was deported under a nebulous pretext.”

Bielakowska confirmed to the Post that she was only told she would be deported for “immigration reasons” without further explanation. Bielakowska was issued a Refusal Notice and a Notice of Detention under section 32 of the Immigration Ordinance, the Post has learned.

She was travelling to the city alongside Cedric Alviani, director of the organisation’s Asia-Pacific bureau, to meet journalists in the city and attend hearings of the ongoing national security trial of opposition supporter and media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying.

Rebecca Vincent, director of campaigns for Reporters Without Borders, said: “We demand an immediate explanation from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and a guarantee that our representatives can return to the territory safely to monitor the remainder of Lai’s trial, which cannot take place in darkness.”

Vincent told the Post that while Alviani was able to enter Hong Kong, he left the city for safety reasons after Bielakowska’s deportation. Both Alviani and Bielakowska are now in Taipei.