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Police in the Chinese territory are offering rewards of $130,000 for information leading to the arrest of six activists.
Hong Kong authorities imposed bounties on six pro-democracy activists accused of undermining national security in the latest crackdown to highlight the shrinking space for dissent in the financial hub.
The police announcement on Tuesday is the third time authorities have offered rewards of HK$1 million ($130,000) for information leading to the arrest of overseas-based pro-democracy advocates.
China's wanted list now includes 19 activists accused of loosely defined crimes of secession, subversion or collusion.
Hong Kong Security Secretary Chris Tang said the activists had threatened national security through activities such as lobbying for sanctions against Hong Kong officials and judges.
Newly added activists include Tony Chung, former head of Hong Kong independence group Studentlocalism, Joseph Tay, founder of Canada-based advocacy organization Hongkonger Station, and Carmen Lau of the Hong Kong Democracy Council.
The others are Chung Kim-wah, a former pollster at the Hong Kong Institute of Public Opinion Research, Victor Ho, a Canada-based YouTuber, and Chloe Cheung of the Hong Kong Freedom Committee.
“Since I escaped, I often regret not being able to serve my people to the fullest,” Lau said in an X post.
“Therefore, as a member of the diaspora and as a resident of Hong Kong, I vow to put our fight for Hong Kong before anything else, even before myself.”
Authorities also said they had canceled the passports of seven activists previously added to the wanted list, including former Hong Kong lawmaker Ted Hui.
Once home to a vigorous political opposition and one of the freest media environments in Asia, Hong Kong has criminalized virtually any dissent under tough security laws introduced in response to mass anti-government protests in 2019.
Western governments and human rights groups have condemned the crackdown in the former British colony, while officials in mainland China and Hong Kong have defended the laws as necessary to restore stability after often violent demonstrations in 2019.
None of the 19 on the wanted list is likely to be extradited to Hong Kong because they live in Western countries that have expressed concern about the curtailment of rights and freedoms in the city.
Kevin Yam, an Australia-based lawyer who was added to the wanted list last July after being accused of conspiring with a foreign power, said the latest awards would undermine the city's efforts to revive its international reputation, which has been battered by the crackdown and some of the strictest border controls in the world during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“What I would say is that every time Hong Kong tries to restart, its government does something repressive to undermine it all,” Yam told Al Jazeera.
“And they're childish enough to think that in the age of the 24-hour news cycle, throwing out 'bad news' on Christmas Eve might make things seem less bad for them.”
