Hong Kong: Government targets activists in exile, their families at home while last major opposition party disbands

Hong Kong’s civic space is still rated as ‘closed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor in its 2024 People Power Under Attack report. The draconian 2020 National Security Law (NSL) has been used to prosecute activists, journalists and critics with heavy penalties, while sedition charges have been brought against activists and critics to silence dissent. A new security law - Safeguarding National Security Ordinance (Article 23) or SNSO - added another layer of repression in the territory. Warrants have also been issued against exiled pro-democracy activists. Peaceful protesters have also been convicted and some remain behind bars. The right to freedom of association has also been undermined by the introduction of the NSL, with civil society groups, unions and opposition parties ceasing to operate.

In January 2025, Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that at least 304 people had been arrested for allegedly violating the SNSO, and the now-revoked “sedition” law since 2020. Among the 176 individuals charged, 161 have been convicted. Press freedom declined further, and the government also curbed freedom of expression

In March 2025, Amnesty International said that over the past year, Article 23 (SNSO) has been used to entrench a ‘new normal’ of systematic repression of dissent, criminalising peaceful acts such as the clothes activists wear, what they say or write, or minor acts of protest.

Over the last six months, national security police have issued warrants and bounties for exiled activists, pro-democracy figure Jimmy Lai remains on trial, while the Democratic Party disbanded following warnings from Beijing. The government has escalated its targeting of exiled activists’ families in the territory; a cybersecurity law was passed raising surveillance concerns, while a pro-democracy activist was jailed for publishing 145 seditious comments online.

Association

National security police issue warrants and bounties for exiled activists

In December 2024, Hong Kong national security police issued a fresh round of arrest warrants for six self-exiled rights defenders in the UK and Canada. A reward of HK$1 million (USD 128,754) has been offered for information leading to their arrests. The six are accused of committing national security offences including inciting secession and colluding with foreign forces.

Among those targeted are activist Tony Chung, the former convenor of the now-disbanded pro-independence group Studentlocalism; Carmen Lau, a former district councillor and now an activist with the US-based NGO Hong Kong Democracy Council; and Chloe Cheung, an activist with the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong.

The rest of those wanted are political commentator Chung Kim-wah, formerly a pollster at the Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute; ex-TVB actor Joseph Tay, who co-founded the Canada-based NGO HongKonger Station; and YouTuber Victor Ho, also based in Canada.

This marked the third round of arrest warrants and bounties issued since the Beijing-imposed security law was imposed. To date there are 19 overseas activists facing arrest warrants from the Hong Kong authorities over national security charges.

At the same time, security services cancelled the passports of seven other overseas rights defenders - Ted Hui, Anna Kwok, Elmer Yuen, Dennis Kwok, Kevin Yam, Frances Hui and Joey Siu - who themselves have also faced such international bounties over their human rights advocacy since July and December 2023.

Media owner Jimmy Lai concludes testimony in national security trial

In March 2025, the Hong Kong media owner and pro-democracy figure Jimmy Lai wrapped up his testimony in his high-profile national security trial after taking the witness stand for more than 50 days.

The 77-year-old, who founded the now-shuttered pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily, has pleaded not guilty to conspiring to collude with foreign forces under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law and conspiring to publish seditious materials under colonial-era legislation.

Lai was arrested in 2020 as part of a crackdown against Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement under the National Security Law imposed by Beijing. Human rights groups have condemned the protracted legal persecution of Lai and his unjust trial. In November 2024, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Lai has been unlawfully and arbitrarily detained in Hong Kong and has called for his immediate release.

In December 2022, Lai was sentenced to five years and nine months in prison on charges of fraud for allegedly breaching the lease agreement of former pro-democracy outlet, Apple Daily.

Democratic Party disbands following warnings from Beijing

In April 2025, Hong Kong’s oldest and largest pro-democracy political party moved to disband as Beijing’s sweeping crackdown on the city leaves even moderate opposition groups with no room to operate.

Democratic Party chairman Lo Kin-hei told a news conference that 90 percent of about 110 party members had voted to delegate power to a committee to start the dissolution process, adding he hoped a final vote would take place in the coming months.

The Democratic Party, one of the leading voices of opposition for the past three decades, has started the process of dissolution following recent warnings from Chinese government officials, two of its veteran members told CNN.

Fred Li, a former lawmaker, said a Chinese official told him that the party should not remain until the end of this year, when an election will be held. The 90-seat Legislative Council (LegCo) will complete its current four-year term at the end of 2025. In March 2021, Beijing passed legislation to ensure only “patriots” govern Hong Kong, in a move that wiped out opposition in the LegCo.

Founded by liberal lawyers and academics three years before the former British colony’s 1997 handover to China, the Democratic Party had campaigned for universal suffrage and on matters from labour rights to conservation during a period when such issues were openly discussed in the city.

Widely seen as moderates willing to work with Beijing, Democratic Party leaders had spearheaded a significant voting bloc in the city’s legislature and were regularly afforded space to critique local government policy, until mass pro-democracy protests in 2019 ushered in a new and more restrictive political era.

Activists to stand trial for alleged unauthorised fundraising

Three members of the pro-democracy League of Social Democrats (LSD) – Chan Po-ying, Dickson Chau and Yu Wai-pan – as well as activist Lee Ying-chi appeared at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts on 29th April 2025.

With the exception of Chan, who is the chairperson of the party, the other three activists did not hire lawyers and represented themselves.

The four activists pleaded not guilty to offences linked to holding street booths in Causeway Bay and Wan Chai on three days in 2023. The four face a total of 12 counts of collecting money in a public place without a permit and displaying bills or posters on government land without permission.

Government targets exiled activists’ families

The Hong Kong police arrested the father of a prominent US-based activist, Anna Kwok, on 30th April 2025, and charged him with a national security crime. The arrest of Kwok Yin-sang was the first such prosecution of a family member of an exiled activist.

Anna Kwok, 28, is the executive director of Hong Kong Democracy Council, a nongovernmental organisation based in Washington, DC. In July 2023, she was among a first group of eight people against whom the Hong Kong police issued arrest warrants and bounties for violating Hong Kong’s National Security Law.

On 2nd May 2025, national security police formally charged Kwok Yin-sang, 68, with “directly or indirectly” dealing with the finances of an “absconder” under section 90 of the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance, which carries a punishment of up to seven years in prison. Anna Kwok’s brother was also arrested on 30th April but has been released on bail pending further investigation. Kwok's father was granted bail on 20th May 2025, pending his national security trial.

According to HRW, the Hong Kong authorities have recently intensified their harassment of the families of 19 wanted Hong Kong activists living in exile. Punishments and harassment against individuals for the alleged actions of another person is a form of collective punishment, prohibited by international human rights law.

Expression

Cybersecurity law passed raising surveillance concerns

In March 2025, Hong Kong passed a law - Protection of Critical Infrastructures (Computer Systems) bill - meant to enhance safeguards for the city’s key infrastructure systems against cyberattacks.

The law will cover computer systems for various sectors, including energy, information technology, banking and financial services, land transport, air transport, maritime, communications and broadcasting, and healthcare services.

It will also empower the government to seek a court warrant to connect to computer systems or install programs onto critical infrastructure systems if operators are unwilling or unable to respond to cybersecurity incidents.

The passage of the law came after the Asia Internet Coalition and the American Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong said that introducing such powers would likely have a “chilling effect” on tech investment in Hong Kong.

According to Hong Kong Watch, there are concerns about the broad investigative powers granted to the government under the new law. Under the new law, the Security Bureau will establish a Commissioner’s Office with the power to require private companies to provide unspecified “relevant information” if it suspects that an offence has occurred, without need for a warrant. This means that internet service providers, media companies and financial institutions could all be targeted by investigations and onerous compliance requests, granting the government new powers to restrict media freedom and increase surveillance via unrestricted access to private company data.

Megan Khoo, Policy Director at Hong Kong Watch, said: “Government bodies are exempt from reporting requirements, which is surely a significant weak point in a law ostensibly designed to protect critical infrastructure from cyberattacks. Instead, this looks like the Hong Kong government granting itself more powers to compel private companies to hand over sensitive data and further its ability to conduct surveillance and censorship.”

Pro-democracy activist jailed for publishing 145 seditious comments online

On 8th April 2025, a court convicted Chow Kim-ho, a former member of the pro-democracy group League of Social Democrats, and sentenced him to one year in prison on sedition charges as punishment for his comments on social media. Chow Kim-Ho pleaded guilty to the single count of ‘knowingly publishing publications that had a seditious intention’, a charge under section 24 of the SNSO.

He was arrested on 12th November 2024. The charge stems from 145 posts across Facebook, Threads, and Instagram. Enacted in 2024, the SNSO introduced charges for treason, insurrection, sabotage, external interference, sedition, theft of state secrets, and espionage, with charges carrying maximum penalties of life imprisonment.

ARTICLE 19’s Head of Global China Programme Michael Caster said: “Once again Hong Kong authorities have shown that these laws have nothing to do with the protection of national security but are merely tools in an ever-expanding arsenal to silence and intimidate free expression.”

Peaceful Assembly

Court overturns convictions of former organisers of Tiananmen vigils

On 6th March 2025, Hong Kong’s top court overturned the convictions of three former organisers of an annual vigil in remembrance of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown over their refusal to provide information to police, marking a rare victory for the city’s pro-democracy activists.

Chow Hang-tung, Tang Ngok-kwan (pictured above) and Tsui Hon-kwong — core members of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China — were convicted in 2023 during Beijing’s crackdown on the city’s pro-democracy movement. They received a sentence of 4.5 months each and have already served their terms.

The alliance was long known for organising candlelight vigils in the city on the anniversary of the Chinese military’s crushing of pro-democracy protests in Beijing in 1989. It voted to disband in 2021 under the shadow of the sweeping national security law imposed by China.