Police question fugitive's family

The parents and elder brother of self-exiled activist Nathan Law Kwun-chung have been taken in for questioning after a police raid on their Tung Chung homes, sources said.

Former lawmaker Law, 29, is among eight overseas-based activists accused of endangering national security who each have a HK$1 million police bounty for information leading to their arrest.

Sources said two teams of plainclothes police knocked on the doors of two flats at Yat Tung Estate in Tung Chung at 6am yesterday.

Law's parents are divorced and he used to live with his mother and elder brother. His father lives in another flat in the same public estate.

It is understood that officers took Law's parents and brother to a police station and asked whether they have provided financial support to him or acted as his agents in Hong Kong. They were allowed to leave after giving statements. No arrests were made.

Law said on social media in 2020 that he had not contacted family members and officially cut ties with them after exiting Hong Kong.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu said police have received information on the eight fugitives and officers will continue to pursue them.

"I've said repeatedly that we will hunt them for life through all means, including launching investigations into financial or other kinds of support to them. We will find out the forces that are supporting the suspects or even controlling them," Lee said.

He said people should avoid contacting the eight suspects and report to police if they have information about them.

Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok, meanwhile, said foreign media's narrative of the national security law "tends to be negative, untrue and unfair with twisted facts portraying the law as a draconian law that should be feared by all."

He said only 30 national security suspects have been convicted or are awaiting sentencing since the law came into effect three years ago - an "extremely small number" compared to Hong Kong's seven million population.

The city is certainly not the only jurisdiction with national security laws, Lam said, noting that the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and Singapore have enacted national security legislations and many of them are more stringent than Hong Kong's.

Lam has filed complaints to the Bar Association and the Law Society regarding two fugitives - barrister Dennis Kwok Wing-hang, the 45-year-old former Civic Party lawmaker, and lawyer Kevin Yam Kin-fung, 47 - for professional misconduct.

Law Society president Chan Chak-ming said a probe has been carried out confidentially and the society will release the results later.

But Chan said the Law Society does not have the power to revoke a lawyer's license as such a decision should be made by an independent tribunal.

wallis.wang@singtaonewscorp.com