Activists urge sanctions on Hong Kong
Calls come following arrest of Canadian, prominent democracy supporters
Ottawa must introduce sanctions on Hong Kong officials and members of the region’s judiciary after the arrest of prominent democracy activists who had run a legal fund for those involved in pro-democracy protests, say supporters in Canada.
Canadian singer Denise Ho, 90year-old Catholic Cardinal Joseph Zen, scholar Hui Po-keung and lawyer Margaret Ng were among those arrested by Hong Kong National Security Police Wednesday, according to the U.K.-based human rights group Hong Kong Watch. The foursome were apparently accused of colluding with foreign forces.
“Give tougher sanctions to these government officials,” said Thekla Lit, of the Vancouver-based Concern Group of Chinese Canadians on CCP Human Rights Violations, in wake of the arrests.
“I think that the government should exert pressure and show our position that this is totally unacceptable.”
Those arrested are trustees of a relief fund established in 2019 to help democracy activists in Hong Kong fight prosecution for their role in pro-democracy protests in the region. Their fund, the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund, closed in 2021. The group members were reportedly released on bail.
Since the 2019 democracy protests were trampled by Hong Kong authorities, the region’s legislature has been stuffed with pro-Beijing lawmakers and the media has been decimated by government attacks on free speech.
In 2020, Canada suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong and stopped sending sensitive military items to the city. But despite requests by activist and lawmakers in Canada, Ottawa has stopped short of sanctions on any Hong Kong officials.
Global Affairs Canada spokesperson Jason Kung said the government is “deeply concerned” about Ho’s arrest and “continue” to assist her through consular services.
Lit said in the wake of the attacks on Hong Kong’s freedoms (which were supposed to remain untouched according to the Sino-British Joint Declaration that was the blueprint for the U.K.’s handing over of the region to mainland China in 1997), sanctions on government officials aren’t enough.
“These judges should be sanctioned,” Lit said.
A former chief justice of Canada’s Supreme Court, Beverley McLachlin, is currently a judge on the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal.
Conservative foreign affairs critic Michael Chong also said in an email Canada needs to apply Magnitsky sanctions, which can include targeted asset freezes and visa bans, against Hong Kong officials complicit in rights violations. Chong said the arrest of Ho and her compatriots is a violation of the Sino-British Joint Declaration.
Cheuk Kwan of the Toronto Association for Democracy in China said the arrests show the term of incoming Hong Kong chief executive, John Lee, will mean more attacks on freedom.