Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, May 13: Tibetan activist group Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) has strongly condemned the Hong Kong authorities for the arrest of the father and detention of the brother of exiled pro-democracy activist Anna Kwok, an outspoken ally of the Tibetan freedom movement.
On April 30, Hong Kong police arrested 68-year-old Kwok Yin-sang, Anna Kwok’s father, under the newly enacted national security legislation—Article 23 of the National Security Law—on charges of “collusion with foreign forces.” His 35-year-old son, Kwok’s brother, was also taken into custody but later released on bail without formal charges. Authorities allege that the two attempted to manage financial assets on behalf of Kwok, who has been living in exile in the United States since 2020.
Anna Kwok, 28, is the Executive Director of the Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council. She is among 19 overseas activists targeted by Hong Kong’s government with a HK$1 million bounty, accused of violating national security laws, including incitement to subversion and foreign collusion. Kwok has since revealed that her parents were subjected to “questioning, harassment, and intimidation” by authorities.
SFT condemned the arrests as a blatant act of collective punishment and an alarming escalation aimed at silencing exiled dissidents by targeting their families. The organization highlighted that this marks the first instance of Hong Kong’s national security law being used to prosecute family members of overseas activists. “This is a chilling escalation by the Chinese government to silence dissidents abroad by threatening their loved ones at home,” the group said.
“As Tibetans, we are all too familiar with this tactic,” the group added. “The Chinese government has long punished people not for what they’ve done, but for who they are and who they’re connected to. Intimidating families in Tibet to pressure activists in exile is a cruel and well-documented strategy.”
SFT added that it has joined Human Rights Watch and 86 other human rights organizations in condemning the arrest of Kwok’s family members. The group has demanded the immediate and unconditional release of her father and the full dismissal of all charges. “The world must speak out for all those targeted by Beijing’s long arm of repression,” the group urged
Human Rights Watch had earlier warned that the newly implemented security law would tighten the noose on freedom in Hong Kong. In March 2024, the rights watchdog called the legislation a “full-scale assault on the rights of Hong Kong residents.” “The new security law will usher in a new era of broad-based oppression,” said Elaine Pearson, Asia Director at Human Rights Watch. “Even owning a book critical of the Chinese government could now carry a prison sentence in Hong Kong.”
