Wanted activist Anna Kwok's father detained pending trial for attempting to handle financial assets of ‘absconder'
The father of self-exiled Hong Kong activist Anna Kwok has been detained pending trial for allegedly attempting to handle the financial assets of an 'absconder.'
Kwok Yin-sang, 68, was brought to the West Kowloon Magistrates' Courts on Friday afternoon to face one count of 'attempting to deal with, directly or indirectly, any funds or other financial assets or economic resources belonging to, or owned or controlled by, a relevant absconder.'
Chief Magistrate Victor So, a designated national security judge in Hong Kong, ordered Kwok Yin-sang to be remanded in custody pending his next court appearance on June 13.
It is the first time Hong Kong authorities have charged a family member of a wanted activist under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, more commonly known as Article 23.
It is also the first prosecution for the offence that is punishable by up to seven years in prison.
According to the charge sheet, between January 4 and February 27, Kwok Yin-sang is said to have attempted to obtain funds from a life and personal accident insurance policy that belonged to Anna Kwok – who is wanted by Hong Kong authorities for suspected foreign collusion.
The insurance company concerned was AIA International Limited.
The National Security Department of the Hong Kong Police Force said on Friday that two men – aged 68 and 35 – were arrested in Tseung Kwan O on Wednesday on suspicion of breaching Article 23.
Police said investigations revealed that the two suspects assisted Anna Kwok in changing the details of an insurance policy and attempted to withdraw its remaining value.
Citing unnamed sources, local media reported that the 35-year-old man, who was released on police bail and not formally charged, was her brother.
Anna Kwok, 28, is among the first group of eight overseas Hong Kong activists wanted by the city's national security police. Authorities are offering a bounty of HK$1 million for each of the democracy campaigners.
The activist, who left the city in January 2020, is said to have met with overseas politicians and government officials to request the imposition of sanctions and to engage in other hostile activities against Hong Kong and China.
She is accused of attending meetings and campaigns in foreign countries in her capacity as a core member of the US-based Hong Kong Democracy Council between September 2021 and February 2022.
Her parents were brought in by the police for questioning in August 2023, a month after police issued an arrest warrant for their daughter. The force said at the time that they were suspected of 'assisting persons wanted by police to continue to commit acts and engage in activities that endanger national security.'
After her parents were questioned by police, the activist apologised to her family on social media platform X.
'Until yesterday, my parents were questioned, harassed, and intimidated. While I feel a sense of guilt, I must also say that this was a price I had anticipated. Here, I must apologise to my family,' she wrote in Chinese.
In the same month, local media reported that police questioned her brothers for investigations into whether they had any contact or financial transactions with the wanted activist.
So far, police have issued warrants for and placed bounties on 19 Hong Kong activists based in the UK, US, Canada, and Australia.
In December last year, Secretary for Security Chris Tang invoked his powers under the Article 23 legislation, declaring her and six other activists an 'absconder in respect of offences endangering national security.'
Tang also imposed a series of orders against the seven individuals, including prohibiting them from dealing with funds in Hong Kong.
Separate to the 2020 Beijing-enacted security law, the homegrown Safeguarding National Security Ordinance targets treason, insurrection, sabotage, external interference, sedition, theft of state secrets and espionage. It allows for pre-charge detention of up to 16 days, and suspects' access to lawyers may be restricted, with penalties involving up to life in prison. Article 23 was shelved in 2003 amid mass protests, remaining taboo for years. But, on March 23, 2024, it was enacted having been fast-tracked and unanimously approved at the city's opposition-free legislature.
The law has been criticised by rights NGOs, Western states and the UN as vague, broad and 'regressive.' Authorities, however, cited perceived foreign interference and a constitutional duty to 'close loopholes' after the 2019 protests and unrest.
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