A Hong Kong court has found the father of a wanted activist guilty of a national security violation, after he tried to end her insurance policy and withdraw the funds, drawing international criticism for the targeting of relatives of pro-democracy campaigners.
Kwok Yin-sang, 68, is the first person to be charged under a homegrown national security law, also known as Article 23, for “attempting to deal with, directly or indirectly, any funds or other financial assets or economic resources” belonging to an absconder.
His daughter, Anna Kwok, helps lead the Washington-based advocacy group Hong Kong Democracy Council (HKDC), and is one of 34 overseas activists wanted by Hong Kong national security police. She is accused of colluding with foreign forces and police have offered a bounty of 1m Hong Kong dollars (£93,740) for her arrest.
Anna Kwok said the targeting of her father was an attempt by the authorities “to drive distance between me and other Hongkongers”.
The regime wanted to “weaponise human emotions against me”, she added. “It has been a journey for me to find out what activism means.”
In a separate statement published by the HKDC, she said: “The Hong Kong government’s retaliation does not and will not discourage me from my ongoing advocacy and activism.”
Kwok Yin-sang was accused of trying to withdraw funds totalling 88,609 Hong Kong dollars from an education savings insurance policy he bought for her when she was almost two years old. He had pleaded not guilty and did not testify at the trial.
The acting principal magistrate Cheng Lim-chi said since Anna Kwok was a fugitive, directly or indirectly handling her insurance policy is illegal.
A sentence is expected to be announced within a few weeks. The maximum penalty is seven years in jail. According to the prosecution, when Kwok Yin-sang was arrested, he said under police caution: “I know my daughter is wanted by the security bureau. I was the one paying for her insurance policy. Since she’s no longer in Hong Kong, I just cut it.”
He had initially been denied bail but was later granted bail by the high court, with conditions imposed including a travel ban and a ban on communication with his daughter.
During the closing submission, his defence lawyer Steven Kwan argued that section 89 and 90 of Article 23 should not apply in a case where a person was simply handling an insurance policy he had bought a long time ago for his children. “This … is a form of prosecution based on family ties,” Kwan said.
Anna Kwok’s brother was also arrested for the same crime, and is now on bail.
Elaine Pearson, the Asia director for Human Right Watch, said: “The conviction of Kwok Yin-sang is cruel and vindictive, showing just how far Hong Kong authorities are willing to go to silence peaceful activism abroad.”
The targeting of relatives of a person wanted by the authorities is common in mainland China, although is a relatively new phenomenon in Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous city that was suppose to maintain an independent identity for at least 50 years after it was returned to Chinese rule in 1997.
Legal experts and rights groups say the tactics used to target regime critics in Hong Kong are becoming increasingly similar to those of mainland China. On Monday, Jimmy Lai, a high-profile critic of the Chinese Communist party, was sentenced to 20 years in jail for national security offences. The length of the sentence for the 78-year-old outstrips punishments given to some of China’s most famous dissidents.
China imposed a sweeping national security law in 2020. In 2024, the city’s legislature passed Article 23, enacting a provision of Hong Kong’s mini-constitution that had previously faced fierce opposition from Hongkongers. The authorities said that Article 23 was necessary to close “loopholes” in the city’s national security regime.
