By Jessie Pang and Tyrone Siu
HONG KONG (Reuters) – Hong Kong national security police on Thursday questioned the brother of exiled former lawmaker Dennis Kwok, media reported, weeks after police issued an arrest warrant and a HK$1 million bounty for the pro-democracy politician.
Police on July 3 issued arrest warrants for eight overseas-based activists for national security offences, including foreign collusion and incitement to secession, and posted bounties for information leading to their arrest.
The warrants, and a vow by the city’s chief executive that the eight would be “pursued for life”, were the latest actions aimed at stamping out dissent in the former British colony.
Since then, police have followed up their investigation into the eight by questioning more than a dozen family members and close associates of at least three of them.
Among the eight is Dennis Kwok, a former pro-democracy member of Hong Kong’s legislature now based in the United States.
Media reported that security police questioned his brother, Michael Kwok, and a Reuters witness saw a man believed to be him leaving a police station. The man declined to comment.
Police said in a statement that they “took away two men and two women for investigation in Kowloon and Hong Kong Island” on Thursday, on suspicion of assisting persons wanted by the police for activities that endangered national security.
Reuters was no able to determine the identity of the other three people police said they had taken away for questioning.
Dennis Kwok, who runs a law firm in the United States, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 under a “one country, two systems” formula meant to guarantee its freedoms for 50 years.
But frustration in the city about what many saw as interference by Beijing eventually brought pro-democracy protesters onto the streets for prolonged and sometimes violent demonstrations.
In 2020, after months of protests, China imposed a national security law on the financial hub criminalising offences like subversion with up to life imprisonment.
The law has been criticised by some countries including the United States as a tool of repression but Chinese authorities say it has restored stability.
On Tuesday, three relatives of another of the overseas activists, British-based trade unionist Christopher Mung, were taken away for questioning then released, media reported.
Last week, the parents and a brother of activist Nathan Law, also among the eight, were questioned.
Some advocacy groups say the questioning amounts to intimidation and mirrors the tactics of law enforcement agencies in mainland China.
(Reporting by Jessie Pang and Tyrone Siu; Editing by James Pomfret, Robert Birsel)
