Most of the 53 detained over their involvement in a July primary election run-off have had their passports confiscated, according to lawyers
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, meanwhile, issues statements condemning arrests and threatening fresh sanctions
All 53 former opposition lawmakers and activists arrested on suspicion of subversion under Hong Kong’s national security law will be granted bail by Thursday without charge, the Post has learned, while two more activists already behind bars have now been arrested under the same allegations.
It was understood that John Clancey, the first American detained under the Beijing-imposed legislation, was among the first to be granted bail in the early hours of Thursday. The lawyer was arrested on suspicion of subverting state power by organising an unofficial primary.
All the remaining arrestees – after being detained overnight in police stations – would be released later in the day without being charged, a police source said.
The majority, however, have had their travel documents seized, according to lawyers, who expected police to demand those still in possession of theirs to hand them over when bail was granted.
Separately, a source confirmed that activists Joshua Wong Chi-fung and Tam Tak-chi – both of whom took part in the primary polls in question – were arrested behind bars on Thursday morning.
– Wong, who was serving a 13 ½-month sentence in Shek Pik Prison for organising and inciting others to attend an unlawful assembly outside police headquarters during last year’s anti-government protests, was transferred to another Correctional Services Department institution for police interviews.
– Tam, of the group People Power, was interviewed in Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre, where he has been held in remand since being charged with conspiracy to utter seditious words last year.
Lawyer Jonathan Man Ho-ching said police officers could arrest and interview detainees already in prison.
He said Wong was transferred from Shek Pik Prison to Lai Chi Kok Reception Centre, as the latter had the facilities for police to conduct interviews.
In response to Wednesday’s mass arrests, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the administration was considering sanctions on those involved, as well as restrictions against the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in the United States.
“The United States will not stand idly by while the people of Hong Kong suffer under communist oppression,” he said in a statement.
Pompeo also said he was appalled by news that an American citizen had been arrested. “Let me be clear: The United States will not tolerate the arbitrary detention or harassment of US citizens,” he said.
The statement followed a citywide raid in which around 1,000 police officers detained 53 people, aged 23 to 79, accused of organising or involvement in the pan-democratic camp’s unofficial, primary run-off election last July, in which 610,000 voters took part.
Among those arrested were former University of Hong Kong legal academic Benny Tai Yiu-ting, who organised the primary, and 16 former lawmakers.
Tai and Clancey, also a permanent Hong Kong resident, were arrested on suspicion of subverting state power by organising the primary,
along with four others: Power for Democracy convenor Andrew Chiu Ka-yin, deputy convenor Ben Chung Kam-lun, former lawmaker and a key organiser of the polls Au Nok-hin, and Gordon Ng Ching-hang, who initiated a campaign to mobilise residents to vote for the unofficial race’s winning candidates
The remaining 47 pro-democracy figures were detained for taking part in the polls.
The mass arrests – which were accompanied by a raid on a law firm and the serving of court orders to four media outlets demanding journalists surrender documents related to the case – sparked an outcry from the opposition camp and its supporters, including Western governments.
Officials said the “35-plus” plan by opposition politicians to take control of the 70-member Legislative Council in since-postponed elections ran afoul of the national security law, as it was part of a wider strategy to paralyse the government, provoke Beijing into ending the “one country, two systems” policy under which Hong Kong is governed, and trigger international sanctions against China.
Tam Yiu-chung, the city’s sole delegate to the National People’s Congress Standing Committee, told a radio programme on Thursday that the ultimate goal of the primary was “obvious”, and a breach of the national security law, even if no violence was involved.
“You should not merely focus on the primary election itself,” he said. “The whole plan [by Benny Tai] involves uniting the whole pro-democracy camp to gain a majority of seats in the legislature, then paralyse the government by rejecting the annual budget, and have the chief executive step down.”
“When the aim is to subvert state power, it is in violation of Article 22 of the national security law.”