Hong Kong: Ongoing criminalisation of expression, bounties on activists in exile and suppression of Tiananmen anniversary

Hong Kong’s civic space is rated as ‘closed’ by the CIVICUS Monitor. 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 2024 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 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 July 2025, UN experts sent a communication to China concerning a reported surge in human rights violations including repression of activists and human rights defenders and their families from Hong Kong.

Since June 2025, the authorities have charged activist Joshua Wong and placed a bounty on 19 activists in exile. It also prosecuted the father of an activist, wanted under the security law, and detained four for subversion. Security laws were used to criminalise expression, a 'seditious' mobile game was banned and individuals were targeted for their activism on the Tiananmen crackdown anniversary. More groups disbanded due to increasing pressure.

Association

Activist Joshua Wong charged with conspiring to collude with foreign forces

Joshua Wong (pictured above) was charged on 6th June 2025 with conspiring to collude with foreign forces under Hong Kong’s Beijing-imposed National Security Law.

Under the new charge, Wong is reportedly accused of conspiring with self-exiled activist Nathan Law and “other persons unknown” between July 2020 and November 2020 to request foreign countries or organisations to impose sanctions, blockades or engage in other hostile activities against Hong Kong or China. The new charge carries a potential life sentence.

The prominent activist was one of 45 opposition figures jailed in 2024 in the largest prosecution under the National Security Law, over their participation in unofficial “primaries” in 2020. He was sentenced to four years and eight months for “conspiracy to commit subversion”.

Amnesty International said: “Hong Kong’s National Security Law is turning five years old at the end of the month, and these new charges against Joshua Wong show that its capacity to be used by the Hong Kong authorities to threaten human rights in the city is as potent and present as ever.”

Bounty placed on 19 pro-democracy activists and passports cancelled

On 25th July 2025, Hong Kong police announced a bounty for 19 overseas-based activists for their roles in a "subversive organisation" abroad, accusing them of being in violation of the national security law imposed by Beijing.

The group - "Hong Kong Parliament" - aimed to promote self-determination and establish a "Hong Kong constitution", the police said in a statement. The authorities alleged the activists had conducted an election abroad and set up the group, or become members of it.

"Hong Kong Parliament" group members are located in several countries, including Australia, Canada, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The pro-democracy group had held an online vote on their Facebook page to form a "legislature" aimed at "opposing one-party dictatorship and tyranny and pursuing Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong."

As a result, Hong Kong's court issued an arrest warrant for activists Elmer Yuen, Johnny Fok, Tony Choi, Victor Ho, Keung Ka-wai and 14 others. The authorities announced a reward of 200,000 Hong Kong dollars ($25,500) for each of the 15 activists and one million Hong Kong dollars for information leading to the arrest of Yuen, Ho, Fok, and Choi.

In August 2025, the Hong Kong authorities cancelled the passports of 12 of the activists. They include: Victor Ho, Chan Lai-chun, Tsang Wai-fan, Chin Po-fun, Paul Ha, Hau Chung-yu, Ho Wing-yau, Keung Ka-wai, Tony Lam, Agnes Ng, Wong Chun-wah, and Wong Sau-wo.

More groups disband in the territory

A number of groups have disbanded in recent months due to increasing restrictions in Hong Kong and repressive national security laws. Since 2020, around 60 civil society groups have disbanded or halted operations.

On 13th June 2025, Hong Kong-based NGO China Labour Bulletin (CLB) announced its decision to dissolve, citing difficulties with finances and debt. Founded by labour activist Han Dongfang in 1994, the CLB supported labour movements in China with an aim to make unions truly representative and to provide accurate information about Chinese labour activism.

On 30th June 2025, one of Hong Kong's last major pro-democracy parties - the League of Social Democrats - disbanded. Chan Po Ying, the chair of the party, told the BBC: "The red lines are now everywhere. Our decision to disband was because we were facing a lot of pressure."

She added that everything in Hong Kong has become politicised, and she was not in a position to go into more detail to elaborate the reasons.

Prosecution of media owner Jimmy Lai

In August 2025, the long-running national security trial of Jimmy Lai – media tycoon and founder of the now-defunct Apple Daily – entered its final phase amid growing concerns over Lai’s health.

According to Hong Kong Watch, when final arguments eventually commenced on 18th August 2025, they marked the culmination of nearly 150 to 160 days of trial – vastly exceeding its original anticipated length. On 28th August, the court officially concluded the closing arguments.

At the heart of the prosecution’s closing submissions was the claim that Lai had deliberately maintained “unwavering” efforts to draw foreign sanctions against Hong Kong and mainland authorities—even after the National Security Law (NSL) came into effect in 2020. Prosecutors painted these acts as a sustained and malicious conspiracy to undermine state authority.

In response, Lai’s legal team defended his activities as legitimate expression and protected speech. The verdict is expected to be handed down later this year or early in 2026.

Since his arrest in December 2020, Lai, who is a British citizen, has been subjected to harsh solitary confinement, restricted to just 50 minutes of “exercise” per day, with barely any access to natural light. At 77 years of age, the denial of proper specialised medical care puts him at severe risk of life-threatening complications from his diabetes. His international legal team has already sounded the alarm over his alarming weight loss and mounting frailty, warning that his physical condition is rapidly deteriorating and may soon become critical.

Jimmy Lai has already been sentenced to five years and nine months in prison on trumped-up fraud charges and has served a 20-month sentence for his participation in “unauthorised” pro-democracy protests in 2019 and 2020. In November 2024, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found that Jimmy Lai was unlawfully and arbitrarily detained and called for his immediate release.

Detained activist Chow Hang-tung holds 36-hour hunger strike

In June 2025, Hong Kong lawyer and activist Chow Hang-tung held a 36-hour hunger strike in prison to mark the 36th anniversary of the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown in Beijing. The 39-year-old activist, who has been detained since September 2021 pending trial under the national security law, said she would commemorate 4th June and “reaffirm our commitment” by fasting for 36 hours.

Chow Hang-Tung was one of the four vice-chairs of the now-defunct Hong Kong Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement of China (HKA). She was handed a 12-month prison sentence in December 2021 for her involvement in the June 2020 Tiananmen vigil and a 15-month jail sentence in January 2022 for inciting others through her writing to participate in the 2021 vigil. Chow was also convicted and sentenced to four and a half months in prison in March 2023 for "not complying with the requirement to provide information" under the draconian National Security Law. She is facing another trial for "inciting subversion of state power” under the same law. She was charged again in May 2024 under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance (Article 23) for alleged seditious intent.

Authorities prosecute father of activist, wanted under security law

The government has continued to target the family of activists who currently live in exile.

In August 2025, the father of overseas activist Anna Kwok - who is wanted under the national security law - pleaded not guilty to attempting to handle her funds.

Kwok Yin-sang, a merchant, appeared at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Court. He faces a charge under Article 23, the city’s homegrown security law, for 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.

According to the charge sheet, between 4th January and 27th February 2024, Kwok Yin-sang allegedly attempted to obtain funds from an AIA International life and personal accident insurance policy that belonged to Anna Kwok.

The police arrested Yin-sang on 30th April 2025. His arrest 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.

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.

Four detained for subversion

Hong Kong national security police arrested four people, aged 15 to 47, on 10th July 2025 for allegedly conspiring to subvert state power through a Taiwan-based group that advocates for the city’s independence. The four male suspects were linked to the group, the Hong Kong Democratic Independence Union, which was established in Taiwan in November 2025.

According to the police, the four held different positions in the group, including party secretary, council member, and general members, according to Li.

In February 2025, the organisation held an online press conference in Taipei, during which its members outlined the group’s action plan, including the “obliteration” of the Chinese Communist Party and the “liberation” of Hong Kong, police said.

Police further claimed the group also suggested setting up a temporary national flag and anthem and requested assistance from foreign countries, as well as providing military training for overseas Hongkongers.

Expression

Ongoing criminalisation of expression

The authorities have continued to use restrictive laws to criminalise speech in the territory.

On 10th July 2025, it was reported that a waiter was charged with inciting subversion under the Beijing-imposed national security law. Chan Ho-hin, 22, appeared at the West Kowloon Magistrates’ Courts. He was charged with one count of “knowingly publishing articles with seditious intent” under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance – Hong Kong’s homegrown security law, popularly known as Article 23 – and has been remanded in custody since. The defendant allegedly posted seditious publications on social media platforms X and Instagram between June 2024 and April 2025. Prosecutors sought to amend the charge, upgrading it from sedition to inciting subversion.

On 23rd July, an 18-year-old was arrested in Kowloon on suspicion of “doing with a seditious intention an act or acts that had a seditious intention”, the National Security Department of the police force said in a statement. According to the charge sheet, defendant Leung Kai-lok stands accused of leaving seditious messages on the wall of a male toilet inside China Hong Kong City in Tsim Sha Tsui between 17th and 21st July 2025.

A 19-year-old woman in Hong Kong was charged on 26th August 2025 with sedition for allegedly promoting an overseas group that authorities deem “subversive.” Between March and May 2025 she allegedly produced promotional videos for the Hong Kong Parliament, a political group deemed subversive by authorities, and encouraged people on social media to vote in an unofficial poll organised by the group. She was charged under the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance – also known as Article 23 – for “doing with a seditious intention an act or acts that had a seditious intention.”

'Seditious' mobile game about fighting communists banned

In June 2025, Hong Kong residents found downloading or sharing a mobile game app about defeating the communist regime may be punished under national security laws.

According to the website for Reversed Front: Bonfire, players can "pledge allegiance" to Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mongolia, Tibet or Uyghurs, among other options, "to overthrow the Communist regime". In a statement, police warned that those who download the game "may be regarded as in possession of a publication that has a seditious intention".

In a line on the game's website, it stated that it was a "work of non-fiction", adding that "any similarity to actual agencies, policies or ethnic groups of the PRC in this game is intentional". The game also allows users to play as communists to fight enemies and support the communist revolution.

The game - which was launched in April 2025 - is no longer accessible on Google Play or Apple's App Store from Hong Kong.

Peaceful Assembly

Suppression of Tiananmen crackdown anniversary

At least 12 individuals were arrested or taken away by Hong Kong police on the Tiananmen crackdown anniversary in June 2025.

In Wan Chai and Eastern District, five men and five women aged between 15 and 69 were taken to police stations for investigation on suspicion of breaching the peace, police said. Another two people were arrested in Central and Causeway Bay after they were found “behaving suspiciously.”

HKFP saw several people being taken away in police vans, including activist Lui Yuk-lin and performance artist Chan Mei-tung in Causeway Bay, near Victoria Park, the venue where Hong Kong’s annual Tiananmen vigils were once held.

In the park, a man holding an electric candle, a man standing silently in the rain, and two women, including a girl holding flowers and dressed in a school uniform, were also taken into police vehicles.

Members of the pro-democracy League of Social Democrats (LSD) were intercepted on their way to Causeway Bay, according to the party’s social media posts. The LSD said that its chair, Chan Po-ying, brought yellow paper flowers to mourn the victims of the Tiananmen Square crackdown.

She was surrounded by more than 20 plainclothes officers when she got off the bus at the Sogo department store at around 7pm. When asked to surrender the flowers, she refused to do so. Chan was taken to Wan Chai Police Station in a police vehicle and released at around 9 pm. Yu Wai-pan, internal vice-chair of the LSD, was also intercepted at East Point Road on his way to Victoria Park. He was taken to the same police station and released at 11 pm.

Hundreds of police officers – both in uniform and plainclothes – were deployed in Causeway Bay, stationed in the MTR station, outside the Sogo department store, as well as in and around Victoria Park.

Authorities banned the Tiananmen vigil gathering at Victoria Park for the first time in 2020, citing COVID-19 restrictions, and imposed the ban again in 2021, nearly a year after a national security law imposed by Beijing came into effect.