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Hong Kong's national security police have written to the organizers of a now-banned candlelight vigil for the victims of the June 4, 1989 massacre in Beijing, asking them to reveal details of the group's previous contacts with overseas-based organizations.

Chow Hang-tung, vice chair of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, said the group's members have been given two weeks to comply with the request, made under Article 43 of a national security law imposed on the city by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from July 1, 2020.

A video clip shared to social media showed national security police delivering a letter to Chow at her home, which she signed for.

Chow said the police letter had described the Alliance as an "agent" of foreign organizations, which she denied.

"Just by pinning this label of foreign agent on us, they can then require us to hand over all of this information," Chow told RFA on Wednesday.

"This is an extremely unfair accusation, and a completely false one," Chow said. "How can the Alliance be a foreign agent? We are an organization formed spontaneously by the people of Hong Kong."

"[They are] using this tactic to intimidate civil society groups," she said. But she denied the Alliance had already made plans to disband, saying the issue was still unresolved.

Chow was mentioned in the letter alongside former Democratic Party lawmaker Emily Lau and Alliance co-founders Albert Ho and Lee Cheuk-yan, who are currently in prison on different charges.

"The national security department of the Hong Kong Police Force wrote to the Aliiance on Aug. 25, saying it was suspected of being a foreign agent," the letter, which was shared with RFA by Chow, said.

"The Alliance is hereby required under Article 43 of the National Security Law to provide detailed information about the activities of its personnel in Hong Kong since its establishment," the letter said.

Deadline for submission

It called for full records and contact details for overseas organizations to be submitted to police by Sept. 7, 2021.

"Failure to supply police with the requested information, unless you can prove that you have tried comply with the request to the best of your ability, or that you were prevented from doing so due to reasons beyond your control, will result in a fine of H.K.$100,000 and a prison sentence of six months if convicted," the letter warned.

Among the organizations listed in the request were the Washington-based National Endowment for Democracy, the National Democratic Institute, the International Republican Institute, the Solidarity Center, and the Center for International Private Enterprise.

Also listed were the Canada-based Federation for a Democratic China, the U.S.-based New School for Democracy, founded by former 1989 student leader Wang Dan, and the Chinese Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group.

According to a person familiar with the internal operations of the Alliance, the group has been in touch with pro-democracy activists and dissidents in mainland China for many years.

Others may be targeted

Joseph Cheng, a former politics professor at Hong Kong's City University, said other groups could also be targeted, including the Chinese Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group, which has spoken out for the mainland Chinese legal profession since the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began a crackdown in July 2015.

"They are now targeting some of the more prominent activists, both within the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement and overseas, as well as the pro-democracy movement in mainland China," Cheng said. "The relevant departments in mainland China likely already have a lot of material on them already."

"The current sweep for documents and records is likely aimed at arresting them and bringing charges, or using the material to go after pro-democracy activists overseas," he said.

Zhang Xianling, a co-founder of the Tiananmen Mothers group representing the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre, said she had nothing to fear.

"Even if they eradicate an organization [like the Alliance] or stop it from meeting, they won't necessarily be able to cover everything up," Zhang said. "The traces will still be there in the historical record."

"A lie is still a lie, even after 100 years have gone by."

Hong Kong justice secretary Teresa Cheng declined to comment when contacted by RFA on Wednesday, saying she wouldn't comment on an ongoing investigation.

A relief fund set up to pay bail for those arrested in the 2019 protest movement has announced it will shut down amid a city-wide crackdown on public dissent and political opposition under a national security law imposed by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund said in a statement on its Facebook page that it would cease operations despite strong public donations.

But its banking arrangements were conducted through another group, the Alliance for True Democracy, which is the latest of several civil organizations to wind down since the national security law took effect on July 1, 2020.

"We have been notified by the directors of the Alliance that they intend to wind up in the near future. This means the Fund will no longer have a bank account it can use, and therefore cannot continue to operate," it said.

"We thank the members of the public who have been giving us their unfailing support by their donations and encouragement [as well as] those who have come to us for help in their predicament and their families for the trust they placed in us," it said.Forced to halt operations

It said it would destroy all personal data linked to donors and beneficiaries.

The Fund had also provided beneficiaries with emergency financial and legal support.

The Aug. 18 announcement came after secretary for security Chris Tang declined to confirm whether or not the 612 Fund is currently under police investigation.

But he said groups that disband could still face investigation.

"Even if these organizations dissolve of their own accord, any crimes they committed won't not be written off," Tang told reporters after the Fund's announcement.

"However, the harm to society would be somewhat reduced if they disband of their own accord," he said.

Tang warned that any organization that promotes violence or has "unusual" financial transactions with foreign organizations will be pursued by police, under the national security law.

Fund trustee and former lawmaker Margaret Ng told a news conference that the Fund had stopped taking any new cases immediately following the announcement.

"The Fund has been forced to cease operations before it was able to complete its mission," Ng said. "I feel deep regret about that, but it was a miracle of historic proportions that the people of Hong Kong were able to create it and bring it this far."

"The 612 Fund is no more," she said. "There are still countless forms of private support, both large and small, but it's not the same."

More arrests expected

Ng said she hadn't heard any news of a police investigation into the Fund's membership, activities or finances so far.

"We can't be too scared or worried about that," Ng said. "All we can do is be very careful not to break the law."

"We must take care every step of the way, and have the banks check our accounts carefully," she said.

At the time of closure, the Fund still had 1,200 live cases on its books, including a 2019 protester identified only as Mr. S.

"Since the protest movement and political upheavals in Hong Kong, there has been no help from the current system," he told reporters. "Young people and people caught up in the political turmoil can only be sure of getting help from civil society groups."

He said police are continuing to investigate cases linked to the 2019 protest movement, and that it is hard to estimate how many more arrests could follow.

More than 100 opposition politicians, activists and protesters have been arrested so far on charges under the national security law, including allegations of secession, subversion and terrorist activities, with more than 10,000 arrested under pre-existing laws for their part in the protest movement.

"They are continuing to prosecute people involved in the movement, so the eventual number is still unknown," Mr. S said. "I think it's sad for the people involved in those future cases."

"They will no longer have access to such solid support from a civil society organization," he said.

However, he said a volunteer-run support hotline would continue to provide advice to those targeted in the ongoing crackdown.

Meanwhile, a Hong Kong court on Thursday ruled that public order charges of the kind frequently used to target participants in the 2019 pro-democracy protest movement can be extended to people who weren't present at the scene.

The city's Court of Appeal found that anyone who encouraged or promoted an "unlawful assembly or riot" could be held liable under the Public Order Ordinance, even if they weren't physically present, under the legal notion of "joint enterprise."

"If there is sufficient evidence to establish their liability... they are no longer innocent people exercising their freedom of expression," the court said.

"They have crossed the permissible line and become a perpetrator to an unlawful assembly or riot and should be held liable as such," judges Jeremy Poon, Andrew Macrae, and Anthea Pang found.

Hong Kong's Civil Human Rights Front (CHRF), which once organized annual mass rallies on July 1 marking the 1997 handover of the city to Beijing, announced it would disband at the weekend following repeated denunciations by media backed by the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

The front, which was never registered as an organization, served as a communication platform for civil society groups to promote human rights and democratic freedom in Hong Kong, according to its Facebook page.

Its job was mostly to organize large-scale, peaceful protest marches to ensure that citizens' voices were heard, it said.

"Regrettably, for more than a year now, the government has consistently rejected our applications to hold marches, using the pandemic as a pretext to suppress the rights of our members," the group said in an Aug. 15 post to its Facebook page.

"With no members participating, the secretariat has been unable to remain operational ... and we have no choice but to declare herewith that we are disbanding," it said.

CHRF convenor Figo Chan was handed an 18-month jail term in May for his role in an unauthorized gathering in 2019. The group said will donate its current assets of H.K.$1.6 million to appropriate organizations.

The announcement came after the CHRF held its AGM, and the decision among member groups was unanimous, the post said.

"We would like to thank the people of Hong Kong for walking side by side with the Front for many years," it said, citing mass rallies of one and two million people in protest over government plans to extradite alleged criminal suspects to mainland China in 2019.

It also cited marches held during the 2014 pro-democracy movement, or Umbrella movement, and marches against CCP-backed infrastructure projects in Hong Kong.

Threat of investigation

The move came after Hong Kong police chief Raymond Siu warned that the group could be investigated under a draconian national security law imposed on the city by the CCP from July 1, 2020.

According to the CCP-backed Ta Kung Pao, Siu said the CHR had never registered as an organization.

Police responded to the CHRF's disbanding by saying the investigation into the group's activities would go ahead regardless.

In April 2021, police ordered the group to submit information on its members, activities, and funding sources, but the group didn't do so by the date specified.

Hu Xijin, editor of the CCP-backed Global Times newspaper, said via his WeChat account that the decision to disband was in itself likely a bid to evade investigation and destroy evidence that could be used in the investigation.

And Ip Kwok-him, who represents Hong Kong China's rubber-stamp parliament, the National People's Congress (NPC), said the group's dissolution meant that "large-scale anti-China demonstrations to stir up troubles in Hong Kong haver become history."

But he said more specific protests might be tolerated.

“As long as the activities are not aimed at opposing China and disrupting Hong Kong, but are expressing a demand, they are protected by the Basic Law and we respect that,” Ip told government broadcaster RTHK.

The group's web page was unavailable on Monday.

Hong Kong's largest teachers' union announced it would disband on Tuesday following a growing number of attacks from pro-Beijing newspapers, among dozens of civil society groups to do so since the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) imposed a draconian national security law on the city from July 1, 2020.

The Professional Teachers' Union (HKPTU) said it would begin the process of dissolving with immediate effect, in a statement on its official website.

"After much deliberation and thorough investigation ... the Executive Committee unanimously resolved to dissolve HKPTU," union president Fung Wai-wah said in a letter to members.

"The HKPTU's 48-year history has reached the last chapter, and the last full-stop," the letter said. "This is a tragic and deplorable situation, certainly, but looking back over our long years of struggle and development, we should have no regrets."

"We sincerely plead for your understanding and acceptance of what was a no-choice, unwanted and difficult decision," Fung wrote.

"It is deplorable that radical changes to to our sociopolitical environment have left us wondering about our futures," the letter said.

The union said it would lay off 200 staff and sell off its assets, beginning immediately.

State media attack

Founded in 1973 by former teacher and lawmaker Szeto Wah, the union began protecting teachers' rights and providing services for them out of a tiny office in Yau Ma Tei, Kowloon.

The move came after the PTU was described by CCP mouthpiece the People's Daily and state news agency Xinhua as "a malignant tumor" in need of eradicating from Hong Kong.

The union's attempts to deflect criticism of its international ties -- deemed "collusion with foreign powers" under the national security law -- met with further scathing responses from both outlets, accusing the PTU of engaging in anti-China and anti-Hong Kong activities.

Organizations accused of such collusion -- including the now-defunct Apple Daily newspaper -- can have their assets frozen under the national security law, rendering them unable to make further payments to staff.

Ivan Choy, senior politics lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), said the demise of the PTU would have a wide impact.

"I believe this is going to have a huge impact on other civil society organizations," Choy told RFA. "If the PTU has no way to hang in there, others are going to find it harder still."

"I am concerned that this will be the start of a domino effect, and that we will see many more organizations disband after this," he said.

'Hong Kong is no more'

A teacher and veteran PTU member who gave only his surname Cheung said he had never thought he would see the end of the union.

"I never thought the PTU would just die," Cheung said. "Everyone expected the Apple Daily's demise, but not such an important group as the PTU, but if they call us a malignant tumor, what can we do?"

"Hong Kong is no more," he said.

The PTU's dissolution comes after around 250 elected, district-level politicians in Hong Kong resigned and dozens of civil society groups disbanded amid an ongoing crackdown on public criticism of the authorities.

Election hopefuls are now required to pass a multi-layered vetting process that includes winning the approval of the national security police before they can even be allowed to run for public office.

More than 120 arrests have been made so far under the law, while incumbent public office-holders will be required to swear an oath of loyalty to Hong Kong and to the CCP.

Among them were 47 former opposition lawmakers and democracy activists, who are now awaiting trial for "subversion" after they took part in a democratic primary in the summer of 2020, in a bid to boost their representation in the city's Legislative Council (LegCo).

Most other former opposition politicians and activists have fled overseas.

On 23 July 2021, Dr Chen Zijuan, human rights defender Chang Weiping's wife, and their young son, accompanied by a family-appointed lawyer and several friends, travelled to the Feng County Detention Centre, where the human rights defender is detained, to seek a meeting with him and to deposit money so he could purchase food and other daily items. Feng County is in a remote mountainous area in Baoji city, Shaanxi province, more than 1900km from the southern coastal city of Shenzhen where Dr Chen Zijuan and her son live. When they arrived at the detention centre and requested to deposit money for Chang Weiping, a police officer told them Chang Weiping's account has already exceeded the maximum limit of 1000 Yuan and that a detainee is not allowed to spend more than 150 Yuan per month. When the human rights defender's lawyer contested this and asked the officer to provide the legal basis for these monetary and spending limits, the police officer was not able to answer and walked away. When the lawyer and the family asked the security guards to allow them to wait inside the detention centre's reception area, the guards said their leaders instructed them not to open the doors to visitors.

The human rights defender's lawyer and wife also went to the Shaanxi Provincial Department of Public Security's Letters and Visits Office to submit complaints against the Baoji Municipal Public Security Bureau's handling of the Chang Weiping's case, including its refusal to facilitate access to legal counsel, as well as to follow-up on Dr Chen Zijuan's previously lodged complaints against the Bureau submitted in April 2021. An official at the Letters and Visits Office told them that their previous complaints were already transferred to the Baoji Public Security Bureau who replied in late April. When Dr Chen Zijuan said she had never received any replies, the official told her to talk directly to the Baoji Public Security Bureau.

The lawyer and family then went to the Shaanxi Provincial Procuratorate to submit complaints against the Baoji police. After making multiple phone calls to superiors, the receptionist told them that Chang Weiping's case is "very special and sensitive" and that her superiors told her that the Procuratorate will not intervene.

On 20 July 2021, the families of human rights defenders Cheng Yuan, Liu Dazhi and Wu Gejianxiong received a phone call from a person claiming to have been released from the detention centre, who shared a cell with the human rights defenders. This person said Liu Dazhi and Wu Gejianxiong have been convicted and sentenced to two and three years imprisonment respectively, but the sentence against Cheng Yuan remains unknown. In order to verify this information, family members called one of the human rights defenders' government-assigned lawyers, who told them that the human rights defenders were sentenced in the morning of 20 July 2021 and confirmed the same sentences for Liu Dazhi and Wu Gejianxiong, but refused to disclose the sentence Cheng Yuan received or provide the text of the verdict.

On 27 July 2021, Wu Gejianxiong's father Wu Youshui, himself a practicing lawyer, travelled to Changsha in an attempt to submit his credentials to be his son's legal counsel during the appeal process. When he arrived at the Hunan Provincial Department of State Security's detention centre, officials there told him that court approval is required for him to see his son. He then went to the Changsha Intermediate People's Court to submit his credentials, but court security officers told him they have been instructed not to allow him to enter the courthouse. After Wu Youshui left his credentials at the court's documents delivery desk, he stepped outside for a cigarette, but the court security officers immediately locked the front door and he was not able to go back in.

On 28 July 2021, Wu Youshui went to the law firm which employs the two lawyers assigned by the government to represent Wu Gejianxiong, to request a copy of the verdict. However, the lawyers refused to see him.

On 5 August 2021, Ding Jiaxi's lawyer was informed that the prosecutors in Linyi city, Shandong province, have decided to indict the human rights defender. The case has been transferred to the Linyi Municipal Intermediate People's Court.

Earlier on 14 July 2021, the lawyer traveled to Linyi city and was allowed to review the case files, but was not allowed to copy or take photos of them as the case "involved state secrets". On 15 July 2021, the lawyer was allowed talk to Ding Jiaxi via a video link for more than two hours. The human rights defender said that since his last meeting with the lawyer and upon his complaints, the detention center has slightly improved its hygiene supplies and extended the yard time. The lawyer also met with the Linyi prosecutors in charge of the case and submitted a written request for dropping the prosecution on the basis that the human rights defender's actions not only were not criminal, but were actually in line with the Chinese Constitution and contributed to efforts to ensure social equality, government transparency and accountability, and the protection of vulnerable groups.

On July 29, a court in Feidong county in Anhui province in eastern China sentenced Zhou, a reporter for the Chinese-language human rights news website Weiquanwang, to three years and six months in prison on charges of “picking quarrels and provoking trouble” citing his reporting on human rights in articles and Twitter posts, according to his employer, the U.S. Congress-funded broadcaster Radio Free Asia, and a person familiar with the case who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity. According to those reports, the court cited as evidence the fact that he was paid for his reporting, describing it as “foreign funding.”

Zhou was arrested on those same charges on March 12, 2020, by police in Hefei city in Anhui province, and has been detained since then, according to those reports and CPJ research.

“If China is truly proud of its much-criticized human rights record, as it has repeatedly claimed, it should allow journalists like Zhou Weilin to freely report the news,” said Steven Butler, CPJ’s Asia program coordinator in Washington, D.C. “Chinese authorities should immediately release Zhou Weilin and stop trying to prevent journalists, domestic and foreign, from doing their jobs.”

In response to an emailed request for comment from CPJ, Weiquanwang shared an op-ed by the outlet’s commentator Deng Zixing calling for Zhou to be released “immediately and unconditionally.” “Detaining anyone in retaliation for exercising their rights is a violation of the standards of universal human rights,” Zixing wrote.

The Anhui department of justice did not reply to an email from CPJ requesting comment.

Zhou frequently tweeted about labor issues and disability rights, according to CPJ’s review of his Twitter page. According to Radio Free Asia and Weiquanwang, Zhou had previously been arrested and detained five different times between 2011 and 2013 on charges of “fabricating facts to disrupt public order” and “gathering crowds to disrupt public order.”

He was sentenced to one year and six months in prison in February 2014 for “gathering crowds to disrupt public order” for protesting and reporting on the detention of human rights activist Zhang Lin’s daughter Zhang Anni, those reports said. Zhou was released in February 2015 after serving the full sentence, according to the reports.

According to CPJ’s most recent prison census, at least 47 journalists were imprisoned in China as of December 1, 2020, including Zhou, making it the worst jailer of journalists worldwide for the second year in a row.

A well-known Hong Kong pop singer and pro-democracy proponent was arrested Monday for performing songs at a political rally three years ago.

Hong Kong’s anti-corruption commission said Anthony Wong urged attendees at the rally to vote for pro-democracy candidate Au Nok-hin.

Au, who won, was also charged for promoting the show and saying Wong would perform. He has been in jail since March on other charges.

The anti-corruption commission said that providing refreshments and entertainment at a political rally was "corrupt conduct and a serious offense."

Wong, 59, was later released on bail. There has been no comment from him.

Wong has been a popular singer since the 1980s when he was one half of the Tat Ming Pair. He later went solo.

He backed the 2019 pro-democracy protesters, as well as the 2014 so-called Umbrella Revolution against what many saw as restrictive changes by the Chinese Communist Party in the way Hong Kong held elections.

After his support, Wong was banned from performing in China, and his music was deleted from streaming services.

Wong and Au were expected to appear in court on Thursday.

The Hong Kong police force’s national security unit searched a journalist’s home on July 26 and confiscated her travel documents, mobile phone and computer following the reporter recording a person attacking a police officer with a knife in Causeway Bay on July 1. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) and its affiliate the Hong Kong Journalists Association (HKJA) demand the police to explain why the reporter’s home was searched and travel documents confiscated.

The 56-year-old reporter for Secret China, a Chinese-language American media outlet, was asked to give a statement at Wan Chai police station as a witness on July 1 when the attack occurred. HKJA arranged for a lawyer to accompany the reporter to the police station and police said they would inform HKJA if they required further information from her. July 1 also marked the 24th anniversary of Hong Kong’s handover from Britain.

According to HKJA, on July 26, police did not notify the association and visited the reporter’s temporary residence to seek an additional statement. The reporter was accompanied by a friend when she gave the statement. Following the statement, police used a warrant to search the reporter’s home, confiscating her travel documents to prevent her from leaving Hong Kong and seizing equipment without a lawyer present. When HKJA became aware of this, the association arranged for a lawyer to be present on July 27, and she gave a statement “under caution” to the police.

The Hong Kong Free Press noted, “Implementation Rules for Article 43 of the national security law provides that police may only with a warrant confiscate travel documents belonging to a person under investigation over suspected violations of the security law.” A report written by the Centre for Law and Democracy supported by the IFJ highlights further broad and intrusive powers given to the national security unit under the National Security Law, limiting the right to privacy and freedom of expression.

An anti-government protester in Hong Kong was found guilty Tuesday of terrorism and secession in a landmark ruling involving the first verdict delivered under the territory’s new national security law.

Leon Tong Ying-kit, 24, had pleaded not guilty to all charges in relation to an anti-government street protest last year. Tong had been accused of driving his motorcycle into police officers while carrying a flag with the phrase, “Liberate Hong Kong, Revolution of Our Times.”

Due to the security law charges, a three-judge panel was specially selected to preside over the case without a jury. After a mammoth 15-day trial, the panel returned with a guilty verdict.

Much of the case focused on how the slogan would be interpreted by the High Court panel. The now-banned phrase was a popular rallying call during Hong Kong’s 2019 anti-government demonstrations.

One of the judges, Esther Toh, said the defendant was aware of the meaning of the phrase the flag carried and ruled the slogan had a “natural and reasonable effect” of inciting others to commit secession, according to a report by the South China Morning Post newspaper.

Tong, a former waiter, has been refused bail since his arrest last year. He will be sentenced at a later date, but could face up to life imprisonment. His lawyers said no decision has been made as to whether they will appeal, according to local reports.

Eric Yan-ho Lai, a political and law analyst, told VOA in a phone interview that the ruling was “disappointing” because the judges had disregarded potential meanings of the slogan that were not secessionist.

“It’s a cherry-picking tactic by the judges, tried to pick one of many of the meanings to justify [the notion] Tong’s act is intimidating others for his own political agenda. It seems a very technical and formal approach to see this case,” he said.

The analyst, who is a Hong Kong Law Fellow at Georgetown University, added that international standards were not met in the case.

“Free expressions are not inciting imminent violence, should not be considered as a crime and should not be punished in Tong’s case,” he said.

Yan added that the verdict, which is seen as a departure from Hong Kong’s common law, sets a dangerous tone for future security law cases.

“If Tong received a much heavier sentence than other non-NSL [national security law] cases, say rioting or possession explosion articles … it would cause a strong impact of the common law in Hong Kong, when such acts could cause disproportionate sentencing, even to life in jail without the scrutiny of a jury trial,” he said.

July 1, 2020, marked the first full day of Hong Kong’s newly implemented national security law enacted by Beijing the night before. Thousands protested in the streets, though, opposing the law and the government. Hundreds were arrested, with at least 10 under the new security law, including Tong.

The legislation outlines four key prohibitions – secession, subversion, terrorism and foreign collusion – and carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. Critics say the law has reduced Hong Kong’s unique autonomy promised when it was handed back to China from Britain in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” agreement.

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam said the legislation would only target a minority of people. But nearly 13 months since the law became active, 100 people have been arrested and at least 60 charged, including media mogul Jimmy Lai and high-profile activist Joshua Wong.

On July 21, another former editor for a pro-democracy newspaper was arrested.

Apple Daily, founded in 1995 by Lai, was shut down after several of its executives were arrested for alleged violations of the security law. Hong Kong authorities then froze the company’s financial access, leaving the media outlet unable to pay its staff and vendors, forcing it to close. Western critics have depicted the media outlet’s closure as a blow to press freedom.

Last week, five members of Hong Kong’s Speech Therapists General Union were arrested for allegedly “conspiring to publish seditious materials” in connection with authoring children’s books. Authorities claim the books, which revolve around sheep, incite hatred toward the government. Two of the members have since been denied bail.

A Hong Kong-based lawyer who has represented defendants under national security law charges spoke to VOA about the arrests but requested anonymity for her protection.

“The question still is, these children’s books about sheep, [do they] bring into hatred or contempt or incite disaffection against the government of Hong Kong? Can it be treated just as criticism? How is it any different from a newspaper column?”“From a point of view as governance, the Hong Kong government wants to break up civil society groups and unions, and that is one way of targeting them,” the lawyer said.

Pro-democracy activist, Hang Tung Chow, the vice chairperson of the Hong Kong Alliance political group, was recently arrested for allegedly inciting illegal assembly. Just hours before, Chow told VOA she believes the government is targeting civil society groups such as hers.

Authorities in the southwestern province of Sichuan have formally arrested a prominent rights activist on suspicion of "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," a charge often used to target peaceful critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), RFA has learned.

Xie Junfeng was detained last month after allegedly leaving his place of residence in violation of bail restrictions, his ex-wife Zou Haixia told RFA.

Police had recently told her the case against him was also based on comments he had made online, however.

"The police hinted when they called [before] that the 'picking quarrels, stirring up trouble' charge wasn't just based on his daily activities, but also on some of the comments he made online," Zou told RFA on Thursday.

"According to my understanding, the authorities have been questioning a lot of petitioners since Xie Junbiao was detained, trying to find out stuff about him," she said.

Xie, who has campaigned for the rights of the most vulnerable in society, as well as being a vocal public supporter of jailed Sichuan dissident Huang Qi, is currently being held in the police-run Shuangliu District Detention Center in Sichuan's provincial capital, Chengdu.

His frequent interviews with foreign media organizations, including RFA, have also made him a thorn in the authorities' side, observers have said.

The authorities approved his formal arrest on July 14, and sent a formal notification to his father's home, Zou said.

"They warned me before that they were keeping track [of everything Zou did] and that the bill would be presented when the time came," she said. "They also warned me that I could be charged with the same crime for my comments online."

Second dissident prosecuted

Meanwhile, authorities in Chengdu's Pidu district have moved ahead with the prosecution of veteran dissident Chen Yunfei, who was detained by police four months ago on the same charge as Xie.

Chen is currently being held at the Pidu District Detention Center, awaiting trial for "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble" after he wrote an online article based on visits to Sichuan schools during the past two years.

He was detained on March 25, 2021, and formally arrested on April 30, 2021.

Chen has already served a four-year jail term on the same charge beginning in March 2015, after he organized and took part in a memorial service calling for justice for the victims of the 1989 Tiananmen massacre during the grave-sweeping festival of Qing Ming.

He was held incommunicado with no access to family or lawyers for six months, according to the overseas-based Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network.

He complained to his lawyer in January 2017 of having been held in restraints on two separate occasions for "refusing to properly greet officers at the detention center," the group said on its website.

Chen's close friend Zeng Rongkang said the allegations relating to Chen's research about schools in the province were simply a pretext to justify a political prosecution.

"This is all just for show, because [his actions] in no way constitute provocation in law, and no harm has come to the country," Zeng said. "This charge is being used up and down the country for pinning on people."

"I expect he will be sentenced again, but maybe not very harshly," he said.

The Chinese social media platform WeChat has deleted dozens of accounts belonging to LGBTQ+ groups at universities in recent days, social media posts have revealed.

Screenshots of notices sent to the holders of the deleted accounts said they had broken laws and regulations governing online content, amid concerns that the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is now targeting gay content and activism.

Many of the accounts were deleted at around the same time on Tuesday evening, Reuters quoted one of the account-holders as saying.

Some of the accounts had disappeared by Wednesday, while others carried notices that they had been suspended due to regulatory violations.

Others were renamed "Unnamed Official Account."

An online post titled "Tonight, we are all unnamed official accounts" listed some of the affected groups, which included ColorsWorld at Peking University, Purple at Tsinghua University and RUC Sex and Gender Research Group at Renmin University.

Similar groups at Shanghai's Fudan University, Wuhan University, and Nanjing University also had their accounts shut down.

The move by censors comes after the cancelation of Shanghai's decade-old Pride event in 2020. The organizers, ShanghaiPRIDE, gave no reason for the decision, but local activists said the group had likely come under political pressure from the authorities.

The organization had previously been legally permitted to run the event by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

But ShanghaiPRIDE had also been involved in ongoing civil society activities in support of the LGBTQ community in China, including running seminars for the parents of LGBTQ people.

Activists said at the time that the cancellation of Shanghai Pride likely meant all LGBTQ+ groups would be affected.

The organizers of a planned LGBTQ+ conference in the northern city of Xian were forced to cancel in 2017 after official pressure.

Crackdowns by government censors

Government censors have since carried out a number of crackdowns on LGBTQ representation on social media, in books, comics, TV, and film.

In 2020, education authorities in Jinan, provincial capital of Shandong province, called for the "strengthening of political and ideological education" for students of foreign-invested schools, at both primary and secondary level.

The guidance was to include the view of homosexuality as "corrupt behavior imported from the West [that is] inconsistent with core socialist values."

Activists said the crackdown stemmed in part from a conservative attitude to sexuality under the indefinite rule of CCP general secretary Xi Jinping, and partly from a fear that civil organizations are a threat to party rule.

Homosexuality was decriminalized in China in 1997, and removed from official psychiatric diagnostic manuals in 2001.

More and more highly educated urban Chinese have begun coming out in recent years, and while some find acceptance among their peers, social attitudes still strongly favor heterosexual marriage and children.

How many Chinese identify as LGBTQ+ is unknown. The country’s health and family planning ministry has estimated that there are between five and 10 million gay men in China, but activists say the actual number is far higher.

LGBTQ activists say there have been a growing number of anti-discrimination lawsuits filed by the community in China since around 2010, as well as some rare though unsuccessful bids to register same-sex marriages.

Authorities in the northern Chinese province of Hebei have detained activist and writer Pang Jian on suspicion of "splitting the country."

Pang, 30, who writes under the pen-name Gao Yang, was detained by police in Hebei's Gaobeidian city in January at his home in Pangcheng village.

His detention came after he reported on forced demolitions and evictions in rural areas around Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei, his father Pang Jingxian told RFA in a recent interview.

"They have been doing coronavirus testing around here lately, and he went to line up [to get tested]," Pang Jingxian said. "Somehow, I'm not sure exactly how, the police detained him while he was there."

"Then the police came and searched our home, looking through Pang Jian's stuff," he said. "They took it all away, and we didn't hear anything for a while."

Later, police sent a notice of detention and a notice of formal arrest to Pang Jingxian, and were dated Jan. 15 and Jan. 28 respectively, Pang's father said.

"After they notified me, I went to visit him a few times, but we haven't heard anything since then," he said.

According to the notice of detention, Pang Jian was criminally detained on suspicion of "inciting secession" at 11.00 a.m. on Jan. 15, 2021.

Both notices gave his place of detention as Gaobeidian Detention Center.

Documenting Catholic churches

But Pang's family have not been able to contact him there, Pang Jingxian told RFA.

"We can't get a hold of him now, and we haven't found a lawyer," he said.

Pang is also a Catholic church member, and had written about Hebei's extensive Catholic church community and unique culture, according to his U.S.-based friend Ryan Shi.

"He took photos of almost all of the Catholic churches in Hebei, as well as local customs and architectural features," Shi told RFA.

Pang had also featured in Hong Kong media talking about Hebei's underground Catholic community.

His U.S.-based friend Cai Quan said she had believed he was either detained or in an accident after his phone went offline some time in March.

"Maybe he is in some kind of illegal detention," Cai said.

An employee who answered the phone at the Gaobeidian Detention Center on July 3 said Pang is still being held there on suspicion of "inciting secession."

Asked about Pang's health and wellbeing, the employee said it was "very good," with no mental health issues.

The employee said Pang isn't allowed visits due to the coronavirus.

"They can't visit right now," the employee said. "One reason is that the case isn't yet closed, and the other is the coronavirus situation, so no visits are allowed."

One year after China imposed a draconian national security law on Hong Kong, police locked down Victoria Park, a former site of mass protest rallies and marches, and cordoned off downtown streets, while supporters of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) hung flags along the streets and sang revolutionary songs.

Dozens of police in Causeway Bay surrounded and arrested veteran protester Alexandra Wong, a frequent participant in the 2019 protest movement, for waving a British flag, photos posted to social media showed.

A young boy was also chased by officers through the Fashion Walk mall before being dragged aboard a police vehicle, photos posted to Twitter on the 24th anniversary of the 1997 handover to Chinese rule showed.

Bystanders said he had apparently been targeted for carrying a bag that was yellow, the color used by the pro-democracy movement and two mass protest movements since 2014.

Police also arrested three activists from the group Student Politicism in Mong Kok at around 5.00 p.m. local time, on suspicion of "distributing seditious publications," according to a police statement and social media reports.

And barrister Chow Hang-tung, who heads a group that once organized an annual candlelight vigil marking the June 4, 1989 Tiananmen massacre, was rearrested on suspicion of "inciting others to participate in an unauthorized assembly" under public order laws.

Hundreds of police took to the streets of Causeway Bay, arresting 19 people on suspicion of offenses that included "disorderly conduct," failing to heed police warnings, and "desecrating the national flag."

They also handed out 19 fixed penalties for breaches of a ban on gatherings linked to coronavirus restrictions.

Two women who were fined said they had only been in a group of two, when the maximum number allowed is four.

"We don't know how this happened. They pulled us to one side and said we had violated the gathering restriction order," a woman surnamed Ng told RFA. "There were just the two of us, nobody else."

"I don't know what the Hong Kong government is turning into."

Her friend, surnamed Lee, said she had been hit with a H.K.$5,000 fine "for no reason."

"We just came out to go shopping," she said. "I work hard as a cleaner and they just fine me H.K.$5,000 for no reason."

Protesters turn out in small groups

Despite a police ban on what had been an annual mass protest march on July 1, people turned out in small groups to chant slogans and wave flags and protest banners, police said in a statement on their Facebook page.

Later in the evening, a man allegedly stabbed a police officer in the district at around 10.00 p.m., the police said.

"The officer sustained injuries to the left side of his back and was sent to hospital for treatment, while the assailant was subdued on the spot," the statement said.

Rights groups hit out at the rapid deterioration of human rights protections since the national security law was imposed on Hong Kong by China's National People's Congress (NPC) standing committee.

Chinese and Hong Kong officials have said the law was needed to deal with an attempt by foreign powers to foment a "color revolution" in Hong Kong, a reference to the 2019 protest movement that began as mass, peaceful opposition to plans to allow extradition to mainland China.

But its sweeping provisions allowed China's feared state security police to set up a headquarters in Hong Kong, granted sweeping powers to police to search private property and require the deletion of public content, and criminalized criticism of the city government and the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Dozens awaiting trial

Dozens of opposition lawmakers are awaiting trial for subversion for taking part in a democratic primary, while at least seven journalists have been arrested for "colluding with a foreign power" in connection with opinion pieces in the Apple Daily newspaper, which was forced to close after its assets were frozen in a raid by national security police on June 17.

"Since the law has gone into effect, [the] authorities have used it to drastically curtail freedom of expression and other human rights far beyond what international human rights law permits," the Chinese Human Rights Defenders (CHRD) network said in a joint statement with other rights groups.

"The Hong Kong government has accused the [Apple Daily] of publishing approximately 100 videos or articles that are suspected of violating the National Security Law while refusing to specify which videos and articles," it said.

Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai is currently serving a 14-month sentence for participating in pro-democracy protests in August 2019 while awaiting trial for "colluding with a foreign power" under the national security law.

"Shutting down the city’s most popular Chinese language newspaper and detaining its staff is the most obvious and emblematic violation of the right to freedom of expression in Hong Kong today," CHRD said in the statement, that was signed by Safeguard Defenders and Humanitarian China, among other groups.

It also cited the government's assertion of editorial control over public broadcaster RTHK, where a number of prominent journalists have been fired or sanctioned for producing content critical of the authorities.

The groups also cited constraints on academic freedom at Hong Kong's universities, with events canceled, debates modified, and lecturers reported by student informants over potential violations of the law.

Targeting the opposition

Eric Lai, research fellow at the University of Georgetown law school, said it was clear that the government is using the law to target the political opposition, with the majority of arrests under the law being of opposition politicians.

He said the refusal to release national security suspects on bail had interfered with the presumption of innocence that was previously a feature of Hong Kong's common law jurisdiction.

"We can't see any sign that they are presuming innocence, because a large proportion of defendants aren't being released on bail," he said.

"They have also changed the trial system by abolishing jury trials [in national security cases]," Lai told RFA. "The point of a jury trial ... is to make the trial more fair and open, but they are taking the opposite approach."

On 30 June 2021, Hong Kong woman human rights defender and lawyer Chow Hang-tung was re- arrested after the police revoked her bail, under which she was released from an earlier arrest on 4 June 2021. On 2 July 2021, the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court denied her bail. The woman human rights defender’s arrest came on the eve of the 24th anniversary of Hong Kong’s transfer to Chinese rule and the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. Chow Hang-tung ( 鄒幸彤 ) is a barrister and woman human rights defender in Hong Kong. She has advocated for the protection and promotion of labour rights, as well as for the rights of persecuted human rights defenders in mainland China. She is one of the current vice-chairs of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China (the Hong Kong Alliance), a grassroots advocacy group established in 1989 in Hong Kong to campaign for the release of Chinese political prisoners, democratic reforms in China, and accountability for the extrajudicial killings and other violations by the Chinese authorities during the lethal crackdown on pro- democracy protests in June 1989. As a barrister in Hong Kong, she has also provided legal assistance to peaceful activists and protesters targeted by police and judicial actions for their involvement in pro-democracy activities. Chow Hang-tung is now facing the charge of “inciting others to knowingly participate in unauthorised assemblies” in relations to events on both 4 June and 1 July 2021. The woman human rights defender is being remanded in custody until the next court hearing, which is scheduled to take place on 30 July 2021. The court will review her bail on 9 July 2021. The woman human rights defender and over two dozens activists, including those affiliated with the Hong Kong Alliance, have already been facing prosecution for participating in the peaceful candlelight vigil on 4 June 2020 marking the 1989 massacre of civilians and protesters in Beijing. Many of these activists are also being prosecuted, with some already convicted, in relation to their peaceful role in other pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong in 2019 and 2020.
In a public post on Facebook earlier in the day on 30 June 2021, Chow Hang-tung suggested she was being surveilled and followed. Later that evening, police took the woman human rights defender into custody near her law office with the charge of “inciting others to participate in unauthorised assembly”. She was initially detained at the New Territories South Regional Police Headquarters and was later transferred to the Tsuen Wan Police Station. Chow Hang-tung was able to meet her lawyers on the morning of 1 July 2021. On 28 June 2021, the Hong Kong police announced its decision to ban, for the second consecutive year, a planned pro-democracy assembly due to be held on 1 July, citing COVID-19-related restrictions on public gatherings. Chow Hang-tung provided legal assistance to the organisers to appeal the ban. On 29 June 2021, the body responsible for reviewing police objections to public gatherings upheld the ban.
In the early morning of 4 June 2021, police arrested Chow Hang-tung as she left her office and accused her of “publicising and promoting unauthorised assembly”. This was in connection to the banned candlelight vigil which the Hong Kong Alliance had hoped to organise later that evening in Victoria Park, which was surrounded by a heavy police presence. She was released on bail afteraround 33 hours in detention. In the weeks following her release, Chinese government-ownedmedia outlets in Hong Kong published articles attacking Chow Hang-tung for her legal aid work and advocacy. Since the People’s Republic of China resumed control of Hong Kong on 1 July 1997, pro- democracy protests have been an annual tradition to mark the anniversary in the city. The Hong Kong Alliance organised many peaceful protests on 1 July since 1997. Since 1989, the Hong Kong Alliance also organised the annual candlelight vigil on 4 June to mark the 1989 massacre of civilians and pro-democracy protesters in China, until the Hong Kong police banned it in 2020 and 2021. Chow Hang-tung’s case is the latest indicator of a rapidly shrinking civic space and expanding government campaign of politically motivated and rights-abusing arrests and prosecution of human rights defenders and pro-democracy figures in Hong Kong. This trend has accelerated since the unilateral impositon of a draconian “national security law” a year ago. According to human rights monitors, as of 9 June 2021, at least 10,340 individuals have been arrested, 2,676 prosecuted, and 1,504 are on trial for protest-related offences. According to Hong Kong police figures compiled by reporters, at least 113 individuals have been arrested for alleged violations of Hong Kong’s national security law, and 61 of them have been formally charged, as of 23 June 2021.

Chinese police detained prominent rights lawyer Xie Yanyi at the weekend, as he was investigating the sudden death of disabled petitioner Guo Hongwei in a prison in the northeastern province of Jilin.

Xie was carrying out research at the home of Guo's parents in Jilin's Siping city on Saturday when dozens of police burst in and detained him, he told RFA on Monday.

"Dozens of policemen broke into the apartment and grabbed me, taking me away to Ping'an police station," Xie said. "Then they confiscated my luggage, bag and phone, rifling through my things at will."

Xie told them they didn't have a warrant, and no legal basis for conducting a search, but they took away a large number of documents linked to Guo's trial, appeal, and subsequent complaints filed by his family, who regard his death as suspicious.

"They took away the case materials linked to Guo Hongwei's cases illegally; they just stole them, all of the files, all of the evidence," he said. "They also tried to lie to me, saying they hadn't done this."

Xie was forcibly escorted aboard a high-speed train and brought back to Beijing, where he is based, he said.

He said he was investigating Guo's family's concerns about their son's death because there was a lack of transparency on the part of the authorities.

"[One possibility is that] Guo Hongwei suffered some kind of direct harm [leading to his death]," Xie said. "Another is that he was refused necessary medical treatment for something."

"And then there is a third possibility, that he died unexpectedly due to some kind of medical condition," he said. "None of these can be ruled out."

Xie called on the authorities to share the full details surrounding Guo's death.

"It's the responsibility of every citizen to demand the truth, otherwise what happened to Guo Hongwei could happen to any of us," he said.

Cover-up suspected

Guo's father Guo Yinqi said the repeated refusal of the authorities to release any information about his son's death suggests they are covering something up.

"Why did they kidnap the lawyer and confiscate all of our evidence?" Guo Yinqi said. "Guo Hongwei's body is still in the funeral home, in cold storage."

Guo died on April 9 after surgery after undergoing two operations for cerebral hemorrhage on April 4 and 5.

His death came as he was serving a 13-year jail term in Jilin's Gongzhuling Prison, where he was transferred after his family complained that he was being tortured at Songyuan Prison.

The family was prevented from taking photos of his body when they went to identify it, and doubts remain around the refusal of prison authorities to order medical parole for Guo despite his systolic blood pressure readings of around 260 consistently during the last two years of his life.

While there was no indication of external, physical attacks on Guo's body, the family has called for a full investigation into his death to establish responsibility, including the release of medical imaging from the time of the surgery and surveillance camera footage.

The family has said Guo was tortured and held in solitary confinement in a tiny cell with no light or toilet facility during much of his time at Songyuan Ningjiang Prison in Jilin.

In May 2020, prison guard Lu Jiaxun locked him in a cell filled with peracetic acid, causing him choke, they said, yet the guard only received a small deduction from his bonus as punishment.

Guo Yinqi filed a complaint to the Jilin provincial prison administration bureau at the time of that incident, but has yet to receive a response.

Guo was transferred to Gongzhuling Prison on Nov. 26, 2020 where he was held incommunicado, with authorities citing pandemic restrictions as the reason for the ban on visits. However, phone calls weren't permitted either.

When he was finally admitted to the Jilin Guowen Hospital in early April, police told one of the surgeons operating on him that the previously healthy Guo had been in a similar condition for more than two months. He was already in a coma at the time of admission.

Authorities in China have detained the anonymous author of the Program-Think politics blog, who evaded government surveillance for around 12 years, subjecting him to brutal interrogations in a bid to gain a "confession," RFA has learned.

"Program-Think's family is asking for help," a comment posted to his blog dated May 24 said.

"Last week, he went on a business trip to a big city in East China, and lost contact with us the next day," the comment said. "There were no unusual messages before he lost contact."

"It has been almost a week now. At first, I was not sure if something happened, or if there was an accident, I didn't call the police," the comment said.

"Last night, the police gave us an official response [to our missing persons report], saying that they were processing his case, but ... without giving any information on the progress of their investigation," it said.

Twitter account @GFWfrog cited a source inside the state security police on June 14 as saying that Program-Think was detained by Shanghai police in early May, and that his last post on May 9 had been a scheduled posting.

"He is currently undergoing brutal interrogations to ensure a conviction," the account tweeted, adding that the case would be "a gift to the CCP on its centenary."

A person familiar with the matter who gave only his surname, Xu, told RFA that the anonymous blogger was now in police custody.

"Recently, through my own credible sources, I learned that they have detained Program-Think, and are putting him through harsh interrogation," Xu said.

"I can't accept the persecution of a person of such conscience and outstanding ability ... so I have to make this information public despite the risks," he said.

Exposing hidden wealth

Xu said Program-Think was likely detained for exposing the hidden wealth of high-ranking members of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and his political theorizing and anti-brainwashing campaigns, conducted via his blog on the overseas-based Blogger.com platform.

Xu said he had himself been transformed from an uncritical supporter of the CCP to a person with doubts, and then to someone who longs for freedom and democracy, after reading Program-Think's blog.

The blogger had continued an in-depth analysis of CCP leaders' wealth following the publication of the Panama Papers in 2016, Xu said.

"I think Program-Think had a bigger impact than anyone on the Chinese internet," Xu said. "Particularly his posts laying out very complete evidence to refute [government] propaganda."

"He would convert Little Pinks [CCP supporters]. He is a hero, and totally irreplaceable," Xu said.

A legendary figure

Zhou Fengsuo, of the U.S.-based NGO Humanitarian China, agreed.

"Program-Think is a legendary figure; an anonymous Chinese rebel," Zhou told RFA. "He had advanced anti-censorship technology."

"A lot of people learned how to circumvent the Great Firewall [of government censorship] through his blog," he said. "He posed a huge threat to the CCP's totalitarian rule."

"I am very worried about him, as we haven't heard from him in a very long time, and it is very likely that he has been detained," Zhou said.

Repeated attempts to contact Program-Think's family members were unsuccessful.

Program-Think was nominated for best Chinese blog in the 2013 Deutsche Welle International Best of Blogs awards, or BOBs.

The author told the station at the time that he had never set out to write political content to begin with, but just wanted to share his years of experience in programming.

But the blog gradually become popular with people wanting ways to get around government censorship, and later branched out into information security tips and political analysis, the station reported at the time of the blog's nomination.

Hong Kong’s media freedom faced another setback Thursday morning when over 500 police officers raided the city’s last pro-democracy newspaper for the second time in a year and made arrests under the national security law.

Five Apple Daily executives were arrested over alleged foreign collusion, including editor-in-chief Ryan Law, chief executive Cheung Kim-hung, chief operating officer Royston Chow, associate publisher Chan Pui-man and Apple Daily Digital platform director Cheung Chi-wai.

Company assets were also frozen, reportedly around $HK18m ($2.3 million). Next Digital Limited, the parent company of Apple Daily, suspended trading. Some journalists at the paper told VOA they worked from home.

Hong Kong’s national security unit says it has evidence that over 30 Apple Daily articles “played a crucial part” in calling for sanctions on Hong Kong and mainland China.

Next Media Union, which represents Apple Daily journalists, condemned the arrests.

“By merely suggesting some past news articles have breached [the national security law], they can treat editorial staff as criminals, journalistic work as crimes and [the] newsroom as a crime scene," the union statement said. "This is a blatant violation of freedom of press in the name of national security.”

But Eunice Yung, a barrister and pro-Beijing politician, disagreed, telling VOA those arrested were using Apple Daily’s platform as a “mouthpiece” to damage Hong Kong and China.

“It’s nothing about the freedom of press. For anyone, no matter [if it's] a person in charge of an organization or even the press, are ... under the umbrella of the national security law," she said. "There is no exemption for anyone in Hong Kong.”

Yung said there’s a difference between being critical of the law and breaking it.

“I think if you are asking foreign countries to sanction officials, this is another story,” Yung added.

Following anti-government protests in 2019, Beijing sought stability for Hong Kong, partially via a national security law that prohibits acts deemed as subversion, secession or foreign collusion.

Since its passage, the broadly worded law, which international rights groups have described as a tool for suppression, has been used to arrest and jail dozens of activists and outspoken critics, including Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai.

At a press conference, Hong Kong Secretary for Security John Lee said those arrested were using journalism as a tool to endanger national security.

“The suspects have been arrested on strong evidence that they’re conspiring to endanger national security. The action is taken against criminals,” he said, warning the public and media to cut ties with the Apple Daily executives.

Mark Simon, a former Next Digital executive who is now the representative for its major shareholder, responded to Lee’s comments.

“No society is free when a man like that [Secretary Lee] is in power,” Simon told VOA, adding he was “in awe” of Apple Daily journalists who remained working while the police raid was taking place.

Hong Kong journalism lecturer Sharron Fast was cited in local reports as saying Lee’s comments were “ominous.”

Apple Daily founder Lai, 73, a pro-democracy advocate and media tycoon, is serving multiple jail sentences following his role in anti-government protests in 2019 and is awaiting trial in a separate case that carries a life sentence.

Last August, dozens of blue-shirted police officers raided the news publisher as Lai was arrested at his home under the national security law on charges of foreign collusion. Some reports have said the charges relate to Lai’s requests for sanctions against Hong Kong and China.

Footage of Thursday's raid showed dozens of officers at the Next Digital office in the Tseung Kwan O district seizing journalists’ materials. The Hong Kong government said a warrant was issued allowing this to happen.

Former Democratic Party leader Emily Lau said it’s a blow to press freedom if media outlets can be raided this way, exposing journalists' sources in the process.

"If it can happen to Apple Daily, it can happen to other news organizations," Lau, a former journalist, told VOA. "This is a very, very worrying thing and is a big blow to press freedom and freedom of expression.”

Authorities added that some published reports dated to 2019, before the security law came into effect. Chinese officials previously said the law wasn’t to be applied retroactively.

“Up to now, it’s very unclear” whether past acts would be taken into account, Lau said. But Holden Chow, a pro-Beijing lawmaker, told VOA that previous acts could be cited in court as “evidence,” and that this practice could apply to other ordinary criminal offenses.

Apple Daily was defiant Thursday, vowing in a letter to readers published on its website that it was “standing firm.”

“In an era where the regime can draw arbitrary red lines, the staff of Apple Daily will remain in their positions and report the truth for Hong Kong people in a legal, reasonable and fair manner,” the letter read.

The paper also announced it was printing 500,000 copies of Friday’s edition.

One senior Apple Daily journalist identified only as “Lee” to protect his identity told VOA earlier this month that there was a feeling of inevitability that the publisher would eventually be forced to close. He said Law, the now-detained editor-in-chief, had told the staff to keep working if this kind of situation arose.

Speaking Thursday, Lee said one of his bosses informed their team to work from home and to log out of all email accounts.

Describing the atmosphere among employees, Lee said the raid made him feel “angry” but didn’t deter their day.

“Perhaps [when] all of us had experienced the last raid in August last year, we somewhat got used to arbitrary actions taken by the Hong Kong police and [we] work as usual now,” he told VOA.

Police in Hong Kong on Friday arrested the head of a rights group that organized candlelight vigils commemorating the 1989 Tiananmen massacre for three decades, for "publicizing" the now-banned event.

Chow Hang-tung, who heads the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, was one of two people arrested for calling on others to join a banned vigil for the victims of the 1989 crackdown, when People's Liberation Army (PLA) troops mowed down mostly unarmed civilians with machine guns and tanks, ending weeks of peaceful protest on Tiananmen Square.

A 20-year-old food delivery worker was also arrested.

The pair were accused of publicizing the vigil, which has been banned by the authorities for two years running, on social media, detective senior superintendent Terry Law told reporters, but declined to give specific details.

Chow's arrest came after she told RFA she personally planned to go to Victoria Park on Friday and light a candle to remember those who died in 1989.

"I think lighting candles in Victoria Park shows that we haven't given up," she added.

While Victoria Park remained empty of mourners and protesters, police gathered instead in large numbers on the park's soccer pitches on Friday, throwing several layers of security around the area.

Local media said up to 7,000 officers were being deployed in case anyone tried to defy the ban.

Some people left flowers and candles at the feet of the Goddess of Democracy statue on the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) campus, while artists laid white mourning flowers in a road in the Causeway Bay shopping district to mark the 32nd anniversary of the massacre.

Police have warned that anyone dressed in black, or anyone seen chanting slogans or lighting candles could be seen as breaking the ban.

Support for allies grows

Former pollster Robert Chung said the numbers of police were "overwhelming and unnecessary."

"It is more likely to spark a backlash and push people away from any sense of patriotism," Chung said.

Chung Kim-wah of the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute (PORI) said Chow's arrest suggested the authorities are beginning to act in a more arbitrary manner.

CUHK student activist Yuen Tak-chi said he would mark the massacre anniversary this year despite boycotting it in previous years because he believed Hong Kong's political struggles to be distinct from those of mainland China.

But he said that, since the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) imposed a draconian national security law on Hong Kong from July 1, 2020, the city's concerns are now closely aligned with the mainland Chinese democracy movement.

"We used to despise the June 4th vigil at Victoria Park. We thought it was pointless," Yuen said. "How could [the official verdict on the 1989 protests] ever be overturned?"

"But this form of resistance we despised in the past has now become a red line under the national security law," Yuen said.

He said the sacrifices made by mainland Chinese rights lawyers, some of whom lost their licenses for speaking out on behalf of the 12 Hong Kong activists detained and later jailed in Shenzhen, had made many in Hong Kong realize that they are all on the same side in the struggle against authoritarian government.

"To mourn the victims of June 4 is to show support and respect for our allies, [China's] human rights lawyers," he said.

A Chinese human rights activist was reportedly lured from his home and detained by police on Friday, in a sign of a more severe environment for political dissidents in the run-up to the centenary of the founding of the Communist Party.

Wang Aizhong received a phone call on Friday from someone who claimed his car had been damaged, Chinese human rights blog Weiquanwang reported. When he left home to check on the vehicle, police took him away.

Up to nine police officers then presented a warrant to Wang’s wife and searched his home. They confiscated 29 books, two computers and a cell phone. Wang’s wife was later summoned to the local police station, where she was questioned about her husband’s contacts and remarks. Police reportedly warned her against speaking out.

A few weeks ago, public security officers prevented Wang from attending a dinner on May 5 with a group of entrepreneurs in Guangdong province. Police broke up the meal gathering and interrogated the attendees until the early hours of the following morning.

Wang is known for his involvement in the “Southern Street Movement,” a democracy reform movement originating in Guangdong. In May 2014, he was subjected to four weeks of administrative detention in the provincial capital city of Guangzhou on suspicion of “disorderly behavior.”

The activist has more than 39,000 followers on Twitter, which is officially banned in China, where the authorities frequently monitor dissidents’ accounts.

Authorities in the southwestern province of Sichuan are holding prominent rights activist Huang Xiaomin under criminal detention for "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," a charge frequently used to target peaceful critics of the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Huang was detained on May 29 by police in his hometown, the provincial capital Chengdu, his friends said.

"I heard from a friend he called using the police phone that he had been detained, and that this time he was looking at a sentence of more than three years in prison," a friend of Huang's who gave only a surname Li told RFA on Wednesday.

"What he did for them to detain him isn't clear yet," Li said. "We don't understand it."

Li said Huang had been writing about vulnerable groups of people fighting for their rights on Mala -- an online forum on Sichuan-related matters.

Huang is a former teacher at a bingtuan CCP party school near Kashgar, in the northwestern Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR).

He took part in the student-led pro-democracy movement that ended in the massacre of unarmed civilians by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) on June 4, 1989.

In 2019, the Jinniu District People's Court in Chengdu handed down a two-and-a-half year jail term Huang for supporting a call for direct elections to choose the leader of the CCP.

Huang pleaded guilty to "picking quarrels and stirring up trouble," a charged based on interviews given by Huang to foreign media organizations including RFA, in which he allegedly "attacked the government."

He was earlier sentenced in 2010 by Sichuan's Leshan County People's Court to two years and six months in jail for "gathering a crowd to disrupt social order" for taking part in a street protest outside a court in February 2009.

Another friend of Huang's, Feng Gang, said his most recent detention was likely linked to his advocacy work for disadvantaged groups in Chengdu.

"He helped local human rights defenders and posted details of their cases online, especially to overseas websites, including Twitter and Facebook," Feng told RFA. "He also exposed local corruption and ... criticised the political and legal system."

He received a visit from local police after he gave an interview to RFA in November 2020 about CCP leader Xi Jinping's claim to have eliminated poverty in China.

"Huang has been a thorn in the sides of the local police in Chengdu," Feng said. "He has been detained around the 32nd anniversary of the June 4 crackdown, and ahead of the CCP centenary [on July 1], as part of the local stability maintenance plan."

Huang is also a member of the Independent Chinese PEN Association and one of the conveners of the Sichuan Pan-Blue Alliance, which is politically aligned with Taiwan's opposition Kuomintang (KMT).

A popular blogger in China was sentenced to eight months in prison on Monday for "defaming martyrs" after he suggested that the number of Chinese soldiers killed during last year's border clash with India was higher than the official count.

In February, well over six months after the clashes, the Chinese military said four of its soldiers were killed in a skirmish with Indian troops in the disputed Galwan Valley.

Qiu Ziming posted on China's Twitter-like social media platform Weibo saying that the actual death toll on the Chinese side might have been higher.

He also said that the commanding officer survived "because he was the highest-ranking officer there" — a remark that outraged Chinese officials.

Indian and Chinese soldiers clashed with iron rods, sticks, and stones last June in what was the deadliest clash between China and India in more than four decades.

New Delhi said Chinese troops had intruded into its side of the territory, triggering tensions. China had denied the transgression and accused Indian troops of provocative behavior. Timeline of Qiu's case

Qiu was arrested on February 20, a day after his Weibo post. He was subsequently charged under a new provision of China's criminal law that bans the "defamation of martyrs and heroes."

The 38-year old was also ordered to publicly apologize through national media outlets within 10 days.

"I feel extremely ashamed of myself, and I'm very sorry," he was quoted as saying by the state-run newspaper The Global Times.

A court in the eastern city of Nanjing on Monday ruled that Qiu had "infringed on the reputation and honor of heroes and martyrs ... and confessed to his crimes." China's new provision

Qiu is the first person to be jailed under the new provision which came into effect in March.

In 2018, China's national legislature passed a law making "defamation of martyrs and heroes" a civil offense.

This was made a criminal offense in February and police have since arrested at least six bloggers for allegedly defaming the dead soldiers in online comments of Qiu's post.

The crackdown highlights the political sensitivity of the border clash in China.

Hong Kong police have arrested an elderly democracy activist as she made a solo demonstration over China's deadly Tiananmen crackdown in a vivid illustration of the zero protest tolerance now wielded by authorities in the financial hub.

Alexandra Wong, 65, was detained on Sunday on suspicion of taking part in an unlawful assembly as she walked towards Beijing's Liaison Office in Hong Kong.

Wong -- known locally as "Grandma Wong" -- was a regular fixture of the huge democracy protests that swept Hong Kong in 2019.

She could often be seen waving a Union Jack flag, a symbol of her dissatisfaction with Beijing's rule since the city was handed to China by former colonial power Britain in 1997.

Protest is now all but outlawed in Hong Kong.

Authorities have used both the threat of the coronavirus and security concerns to ban demonstrations.

A vigil planned for this Friday -- the 32nd anniversary of Beijing's 1989 crackdown on democracy protests in Tiananmen Square -- has been denied permission for the second year in a row.

Authorities have cited the coronavirus, although Hong Kong is currently celebrating no local transmission cases of unknown origin for the last month.

Activists had also sought permission for a small Tiananmen-themed march on Sunday to the Liaison Office, which represents the central government in the city, but it was also denied permission.

Wong turned up anyway that afternoon holding as sign that read "32, June 4, Tiananmen's lament" and a yellow umbrella -- the latter a symbol of Hong Kong's democracy movement.

The South China Morning Post said the pensioner started chanting slogans in a park before heading towards the Liaison Office by herself, while being followed and filmed by police.

She was stopped twice.

"I'm only by myself, just an old lady here. Why stop me?" the Post quoted Wong as telling officers.

Soon afterwards she was arrested.

Police confirmed a 65-year-old woman surnamed Wong had been arrested for "knowingly participating in an unauthorized assembly and attempting to incite others to join an unauthorized assembly."

Hong Kong's democracy movement has been crushed by a broad crackdown on dissent over the last year, including the imposition of a sweeping security law that criminalizes much dissent.

In the middle of the 2019 protests Wong disappeared for more than a year.

She resurfaced saying she had been detained by mainland authorities during a trip to Shenzhen, a neighboring city where she lived at the time.

On 2 June 2021, border control authorities at the Fuzhou airport prevented Beijing-based human rights lawyer Tang Jitian from boarding a flight to Japan to see his ill daughter. The authorities told the human rights defender that the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau has imposed an exit ban on him because his travel abroad “may endanger national security”. Tang Jitian (唐吉田) is a Chinese human rights lawyer who has taken on human rights casesacross a range of areas, including land rights, freedom of religion, freedom of expression and freedom of association. As a result of his persistent activism, his license to practise law was revoked in 2010. The human rights defender continued his human rights work since his disbarment and has been subjected to beatings, torture, surveillance, travel restrictions, and arbitrary detentions on multiple occasions. In November 2017, he tried to enter Hong Kong from Shenzhen to seek medical treatment, but the mainland border control authorities told him he was not allowed to leave because he “may endanger national security”. Tang Jitian’s 25-year-old daughter, who has been studying in Japan, fell ill in April 2021 with tuberculosis and has since been hospitalised in an intensive care unit. She is said to be in serious condition due to multiple complications triggered by tuberculosis.After his daughter was hospitalised, Tang Jitian obtained a visa to travel to Japan and contacted public security officers in Beijing to seek the lifting of his exit ban. However, the officers he contacted said they were discussing the matter with their superiors and failed to give him a definitive answer despite repeated follow-up. On 1 June 2021, the human rights defender flew from Beijing to Fuzhou. On the morning of 2 June 2021, he checked in his luggage and obtained his boarding pass at the Fuzhou airport for his flight to Japan, but was stopped and turned back at the border control area. The border control officers told the human rights defender that he was prohibited from leaving the country on the basis of article 12(5) of the Exit and Entry Administration Law, which grants the authorities the power to impose exit bans on Chinese citizens if they “endanger national security”. The officers did not provide any legal documents or any detailed explanation as to why and how his departure would endanger national security. They also initially refused to disclose the officials who ordered the exit ban. After Tang Jitian insisted on knowing who issued the order, the officers said it was the Beijing Public Security Bureau, but refused to disclose the names of the officials who made the decision.Chinese authorities have a history of imposing arbitrary restrictions on freedom of movement,including both domestic and international travel bans, as well as forced temporary relocation during politically sensitive periods, in order to target human rights defenders. These restrictions based on such ill-defined concepts as “endangering national security” are inconsistent with the Chinese Constitution, which prohibits unlawful deprivation or restriction of citizens’ freedom of the person,and are also incompatible with international human rights standards protecting the right to freedom of movement.

On 21 May 2021, the Linyi Municipal Procuratorate informed Ding Jiaxi's legal counsel that it has sent his case back to the Linyi Municipal Public Security Bureau for a second round of supplementary investigation. Under the Criminal Procedure Law, only two rounds of supplementary investigation are permitted. Once the supplementary investigation has concluded and the case is sent back to the Procuratorate, the Procuratorate must then decide whether or not to prosecute within a month. The Procuratorate may extend this deadline by another 15 days if a case is deemed "major or complicated" or if the sentence might exceed one year of imprisonment.

Earlier on 19 May 2021, Ding Jiaxi was allowed another video call with his legal counsel. Ding Jiaxi told his lawyer that detainees are permitted to partake in outdoor activities for less than 30 minutes a day and that their masks are changed only once every three weeks. Due to the low quality of dental hygiene provided by the detention centre, the condition of the human rights defender's teeth is deteriorating. Ding Jiaxi also said his eyesight has deteriorated, and he has still not been given any paper or pen to write with by authorities.

On 8 May 2021, immigration officers at the Shanghai Pudong Airport stopped human rights lawyer Lu Siwei from boarding his flight to the United States, where he is due to participate in a fellowship programme. The officers informed the human rights defender that an exit ban had been imposed against him on "national security" grounds.

Prominent Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong has been sentenced to 10 additional months in prison for taking part in an unauthorized assembly last year to commemorate the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

The 24-year-old Wong is already serving a 13-and-a-half-month sentence for organizing an unauthorized protest in 2019. He was sentenced Thursday along with fellow activists Lester Shum, Jannelle Leung and Tiffany Yeun, who received sentences of between four and six months.

Wong was also among 47 activists charged under Hong Kong’s sweeping national security law for taking part in unofficial primary elections last July to pick candidates to run in legislative elections. They were then postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

China has banned any public observance of the June 4, 1989 crackdown, when Chinese military tanks and troops raided Tiananmen Square to break up weeks of student-led protests. But Hong Kong traditionally held large vigils to mark the event under its Basic Law, which granted the city certain freedoms not allowed on the mainland, including the right to assembly.

Last year's event was banned for the first time, with police citing the pandemic and security fears following huge and often violent pro-democracy protests that engulfed the financial hub in the last half of 2019.

Hong Kong authorities have increasingly clamped down on the city’s pro-democracy forces since Beijing imposed the new national security law last June in response to the 2019 demonstrations.

Under the law, anyone in Hong Kong believed to be carrying out terrorism, separatism, subversion of state power or collusion with foreign forces could be tried and face life in prison if convicted.

It has been confirmed that the Linyi Municipal Procuratorate in Shandong province approved the formal arrest of woman human rights defender Li Qiaochu on 14 March 2021 for "inciting subversion of State power". She is currently detained at the Linyi Municipal Detention Centre. Her partner and fellow human rights defender Xu Zhiyong is also facing the same charge, and his case is also being overseen by the Linyi Municipal Public Security Bureau.

The Linyi Municipal Public Security Bureau denied two requests made in February and March by Li Qiaochu's lawyer to visit the woman human rights defender, and also rejected the lawyer's bail applications.

In defence of her partner Xu Zhiyong's rights, Li Qiaochu previously challenged the actions of the Linyi Municipal Public Security Bureau by filing an administrative review in August 2020, initiating an administrative lawsuit in October 2020, and filing a formal complaint against Li Dengquan, the head of the Linyi Public Security Bureau in early February 2021, days before she was taken into custody.

In light of these complaints made by Li Qiaochu against the Linyi police prior to her detention, her lawyer argued that the Linyi police have a conflict of interest in the case that could undermine their ability to fairly handle the investigations. Subsequently, the lawyer submitted a formal request on 14 April 2021, for Li Dengquan and all other police officers at the Linyi Public Security Bureau to recuse themselves from this case, in line with articles 29 and 31 of the Criminal Procedure Law. Article 29 requires adjudicators, procurators and investigators to recuse themselves from a case if they have, among other factors, "an interest in the case" or have "another relationship with a party in the case that might affect the just handling of the case." The lawyer also contested the legitimacy of the Linyi police's jurisdiction and authority to investigate Li Qiaochu, who is a resident of Beijing and was still under provisional release pending investigation by the Beijing public security bureau at the time of her detention in February 2021.

On 19 April 2021, the Linyi Municipal Procuratorate rejected the lawyer's request for recusal on the basis that the reasons provided do not meet the conditions for recusal as stipulated in the Criminal Procedure Law. The procuratorate did not provide further, more detailed legal reasoning for the decision. On 23 April 2021, the woman human rights defender's lawyer requested the Linyi procuratorate to review its decision on the recusal request.

In October 2020, woman human rights defender Liu Yanli was transferred to the Hankou Prison in the city of Wuhan in Hubei province to serve her four-year sentence, since which the prison authorities have not allowed her family to visit her. Liu Yanli's requests to phone her family have also been denied since the transfer.

In March 2021, a prison security official delivered a letter to Liu Yanli's family from her. In the letter, the woman human rights defender wrote that following the transfers to the prison, she had spent a month in quarantine, after which she spent a further month undergoing vocational training. Subsequently, she became a labourer at a prison factory and has been assigned to work as a porter. She wrote that she is exhausted from the physical exertion, and that her hair has gone grey. Her family are concerned for her physical and psychological health and well being.

On the morning of 7 April 2021, the lawyer retained by Liu Yanli's family met her at the Hankou Prison. The prison guards restricted them from speaking about anything other than her appeal, prohibiting them from discussing the prison conditions. In the afternoon, the Jingmen Municipal Intermediate Court held a hearing to review Liu Yanli's second appeal of her conviction. The defender's older sister, older brother and the family lawyer attended, but the court did not allow Liu Yanli to be present. No other observers were allowed to attend the hearing, which lasted 1.5 hours. The court is yet to announce its decision in the case.