Hong Kong’s national security police have arrested a man for allegedly threatening multiple media outlets to publish a report promoting a fundraising website for wanted activists.
A 43-year-old man surnamed Tse was arrested in Fanling on Thursday in connection with intimidating letters sent in June to several local media organisations, police said at a press conference on Friday.
According to Superintendent Chow Hok-yin, the letters demanded that media outlets publish a report about a website claiming to sell products to raise money for overseas activists wanted by Hong Kong authorities.
The website also claimed that proceeds would be used to support activities calling for foreign sanctions on Hong Kong officials and judges.
The letters warned that failure to publish the report could result in arson attacks on the media outlets’ offices.
As the letters and the report allegedly contained elements endangering national security, the case was taken over by the police’s national security department, Chow said.
Police said the website was hosted on an overseas server, and Tse is suspected to be its creator.
Officers found image and text files used to create the website on Tse’s computer, along with a document listing the names and office addresses of various local media outlets.
Tse was arrested under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance – commonly known as Article 23 – for alleged “seditious intention.” He also faces charges of suspected criminal intimidation.
Chow declined to name the media organisations involved.
Sedition is not covered by the Beijing-imposed national security law, which targets secession, subversion, collusion with foreign forces, and terrorism and carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
It was previously criminalised under the colonial-era Crimes Ordinance, with a maximum penalty of two years in prison. That law was repealed in March 2024, when Hong Kong enacted its homegrown security legislation, which raised the penalty for sedition to up to seven years in prison.
Separate from the 2020 Beijing-enacted security law, the homegrown Safeguarding National Security Ordinance targets treason, insurrection, sabotage, external interference, sedition, theft of state secrets and espionage. It allows for pre-charge detention of up to 16 days, and suspects’ access to lawyers may be restricted, with penalties involving up to life in prison. Article 23 was shelved in 2003 amid mass protests, remaining taboo for years. But, on March 23, 2024, it was enacted having been fast-tracked and unanimously approved at the city’s opposition-free legislature.
The law has been criticised by rights NGOs, Western states and the UN as vague, broad and “regressive.” Authorities, however, cited perceived foreign interference and a constitutional duty to “close loopholes” after the 2019 protests and unrest.
