Washington DC (Aryavarth): The “incommunicado detentions and abusive interrogations” of 12 Hong Kong residents detained in China deserves worldwide condemnation, said Washington-based China Commission on Thursday.
“Their rights should be respected and they should have access to family-appointed lawyers, suitable medical care and contact with their family,” said the human rights monitoring group, Congressional-Executive Commission on China.
This comes after the group of 12, some of whom are linked to anti-government protests were held in August while they were heading for Taiwan. According to media reports, they are under arrest in the southern city of Shenzhen.
According to Hong Kong media reports, among the people who were arrested was pro-democracy activist Andy Li.
Li is among the other pro-democracy activists including Agnes Chow and Jimmy Lai who were arrested on August 10 under the draconian National Security Law.
In September, the Hong Kong government had said it will not interfere in the arrest of 12 Hong Kongers by Chinese authorities.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Washington-based commission had slammed the Chinese government for the “crushing Hong Kong’s freedoms” amid an increasing crackdown by the Hong Kong government on people for allegedly participating in an “unauthorised” pro-democracy demonstration across the region.
Anti-government protests have been rocking Hong Kong since last year. The enactment of draconian national security law in Hong Kong in June to stop people from protesting has intensified the demonstrations.
The national security law imposed by Beijing on Hong Kong criminalises any act of secession (breaking away from China), subversion (undermining the power or authority of the central government), terrorism and collusion with foreign forces, with punishments of up to life in prison. It came into effect from July 1.
