New rules for criminals could also apply to political activists: Joshua Wong
Taiwan News
Date: 2019/02/15
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong during the 2014 Umbrella Movement. (By Associated Press)
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Changes in Hong Kong legislation to facilitate the extradition of criminals could lead to the arrest of Taiwanese visitors to the former British colony for political reasons, democracy activist Joshua Wong (黃之鋒) said Friday.
He said that Taiwanese visitors might turn into the next Lee Ming-che (李明哲), the Taiwanese human rights activist jailed and sentenced to five years in prison by China for supposedly subversive activities.
According to Wong, the Hong Kong authorities are using the “suitcase murder,” in which a Hong Kong citizen allegedly murdered his girlfriend during a visit to Taiwan but fled the island before his crime was discovered, to introduce extradition legislation which might affect political freedoms.
In the past, China could only arrest Taiwanese citizens on its own soil, but the proposal from the Hong Kong Security Bureau might allow it to seek the detention and extradition from Hong Kong of any Taiwanese national staying or even passing through the city, Wong said on his Facebook page, according to the Liberty Times. [FULL STORY]
