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Updated January 14th, 2021 at 08:25 IST

Lawyer, 10 others said to be arrested in Hong Kong crackdown

Hong Kong police on Thursday arrested a lawyer and 10 others on suspicion of helping 12 Hong Kongers try to flee the city, local media reported in the latest arrests in an ongoing crackdown on dissent.

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Hong Kong police on Thursday arrested a lawyer and 10 others on suspicion of helping 12 Hong Kongers try to flee the city, local media reported in the latest arrests in an ongoing crackdown on dissent. Police arrested eight men and three women aged 18 to 72 for “assisting offenders,” according to the South China Morning Post, which cited unnamed sources.

District councillor and lawyer Daniel Wong Kwok-tung posted on his Facebook page that national security officers had arrived at his home, although he did not know yet to which police station he would be taken. Wong, a member of the city’s Democratic Party, is known for providing legal assistance to hundreds of protesters arrested during the anti-government protests in Hong Kong in 2019.

Those arrested were suspected of helping the 12 Hong Kong youth who were detained at sea by mainland Chinese authorities while attempting to sail to Taiwan last August. Some of them were wanted in Hong Kong for offenses related to anti-government protests in 2019.

Last month, 10 of them were sentenced to prison in Shenzhen for illegally crossing the border, with sentences ranging between seven months to three years. The two other detainees, who are minors, were handed over to Hong Kong and could face further charges in the city for absconding, authorities said.

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Published January 14th, 2021 at 08:25 IST

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