Lawyers pressured as China labels Hong Kong fugitives ‘separatists’

HONG KONG: Concerns were growing yesterday for the fate of a group of Hong Kongers in mainland custody after a senior Chinese official declared them ‘separatists’ and lawyers were pressured to drop them as clients.

Authorities said they intercepted the 12 Hong Kongers trying to flee by boat to Taiwan last month, with the group handed over to police in neighbouring Shenzhen on the Chinese mainland.

Some of those on board were facing prosecution in Hong Kong for activities linked to last year’s huge and often violent prodemocracy protests.

China says the group are being held for illegally crossing its border – but there are fears they will face national security charges, which can carry a life prison sentence or execution.

Mainland lawyers appointed by the families were warned off the group, according to sources and individuals familiar with the case.

On Sunday Hua Chunying, a spokeswoman of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, raised the prospect Beijing was treating the group as national security threats.

“They are not democratic activists, but elements attempting to separate HongKong from China,” Hua tweeted after her counterpart at the US State Department voiced concerns about the group’s disappearance into China’s opaque justice system.

Authorities only confirmed the group were in criminal detention late Sunday, more than 20 days after their initial arrest.

Illegal border crossing carries around one year in jail but national security crimes have up to death and life sentences in side China.

Conviction in the party controlled courts is all but guaranteed for those charged.

Two sources with direct knowledge of the cases said yesterday mainland lawyers appointed by families to represent their loved ones were now being warned to abandon their clients in favour of ‘government appointed’ lawyers.