Chan Kok-hin and Lily Wong accused of conspiring to collude with a foreign country or external forces to endanger national security and commit acts with seditious intent, source says
Fugitive ex-lawmaker Nathan Law is among eight on wanted list, each with HK$1 million bounty for arrest
By Clifford Lo
July 27, 2023
Former lawmaker Nathan Law (right) is now based in the UK and among eight on a wanted list by national security police. Photo: Winson Wong
Hong Kong national security police on Thursday arrested two more members of disbanded opposition party Demosisto over alleged fundraising activities backing fugitive ex-legislator Nathan Law Kwun-chung, the Post learned.
The latest arrests in the morning brought the total number of ex-Demosisto suspects in the case to seven.
Without naming the suspects, police said they had arrested a man and woman, both 29, for allegedly conspiring to collude with a foreign country or external forces to endanger national security and commit acts with seditious intent.
“An investigation revealed that the two arrested persons were suspected of having connections with the group of people arrested on July 5,” the force said.
The Post learned the two suspects were Chan Kok-hin and Lily Wong Lee-lee. A source familiar with the case said the two were former key members of Demosisto and that Chan worked as an assistant for Law when he was a legislator. In January 2020, Wong was arrested at the Hong Kong International Airport before departing for Taiwan to observe the presidential election on the self-ruled island.
She was accused of taking part in the storming of the Legislative Council and vandalising its chamber on July 1, 2019. In the incident, protesters broke more than 60 glass doors and panes, sprayed graffiti on walls, defaced the city’s official emblem and damaged the building’s fire prevention and security system.
Chan Kok-hin as Shue Yan University student union vice chairman in 2014. Photo: SCMP
The source said the pair were accused of helping to run an app called Mee, which was associated with shops that were part of a so-called yellow economic circle, a loose business coalition that backed the 2019 anti-government protests sparked by a now-withdrawn extradition bill.
“The duo are also suspected of providing financial support to Law,” the source added.
As of Thursday afternoon, the pair were still being held for questioning.
On July 5, officers from the force’s National Security Department arrested a former leader and three members of Demosisto. They were accused of involvement in collecting funds on behalf of Law, who is now based in Britain and among eight on a wanted list under the security law with a HK$1 million (US$128,130) bounty each for their arrest.
The four arrested earlier were ex-Demosisto leader Ivan Lam Long-yin and three former members, William Liu Wai-lim, Li Kai-ching and Arnold Chung Chin-ku.
Another insider at the time said the four suspects established the app after Demosisto had disbanded in 2020, and allegedly conspired with shops in the yellow economic circle to raise funds to support Law’s anti-China activities overseas.
Police arrested another ex-Demosisto member – Calvin Chu-Yan-ho – in connection with the case the following day.
Protesters inside Legco during anti-government protests in 2019. Photo: Felix Wong
The five suspects arrested earlier have been released on bail pending further investigation.
Law left the city on June 27, 2020, just days before the enactment of the national security law.
According to a police reward notice, Law, 30, allegedly called on foreign countries to impose sanctions or engage in hostile activities against the country and Hong Kong between July 2020 and November 2022.
Law was a prominent voice for the city’s opposition and a student leader during the 2014 Occupy protests. He later co-founded localist party Demosisto in 2016, where he served as chairman.
He was elected to Legco at the age of 23, making him the youngest lawmaker in the city’s history. Authorities challenged his controversial oath-taking at his first appearance in the legislature, resulting in his disqualification in July 2017.
Earlier this month, police announced unprecedented HK$1 million rewards for information leading to the arrest of Law and seven others.
The wanted opposition figures are barrister and ex-legislator Dennis Kwok Wing-hang, former lawmaker Ted Hui Chi-fung, trade unionist Mung Siu-tat, lawyer Kevin Yam Kin-fung, and activists Finn Lau Cho-dik, Anna Kwok Fung-yee and Elmer Yuan Gong-yi. They all live overseas.
The source close to the latest Demosisto case said national security police would continue to investigate the local contacts and associates of the eight on the wanted list and cut off any assistance or funding for them.
On Monday, police questioned Yuan’s relatives, including his daughter-in-law, the pro-Beijing legislator Eunice Yung Hoi-yan.
About two weeks ago, police raided Law’s family home in Tung Chung and took away his parents and older brother for questioning. Officers then raided the home of unionist Mung’s older brother on Tuesday last week, and took him, his wife and son away for questioning. Two days later, the force questioned Kwok’s parents as well as his older brother and sister-in-law.
Source: scmp.com