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Father of exiled Hong Kong activist sentenced to eight months
Anna Kwok, a 29-year-old pro-democracy campaigner living abroad, said she had long feared authorities would punish her family after she fled Hong Kong in 2020. On Thursday, her father, Kwok Yin-sang, became the first relative of a wanted overseas activist to be imprisoned under national security charges.
Charges linked to daughter's insurance policy
A Hong Kong court convicted the 69-year-old earlier this month of attempting to manage financial assets belonging to a fugitive. Prosecutors said he tried to withdraw approximately $11,000 from an insurance plan he had purchased for his daughter when she was two years old.
Kwok Yin-sang pleaded not guilty to the charge, which falls under Article 23 of Hong Kong's domestic security legislation. The law expands on the Beijing-imposed national security framework introduced in 2020.
Critics decry 'transnational repression'
Human rights advocates argue the case signals an escalation in Hong Kong's campaign to pressure exiled activists. Anna Kwok, who leads the Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council, told reporters the prosecution was intended to silence her work lobbying U.S. lawmakers to review Hong Kong's trade offices in America.
"My father's case shows how political freedom in Hong Kong has reached a new low. The government, following Beijing's example, is determined to suppress any form of dissent or campaign Hong Kongers dare to pursue."
Anna Kwok, Executive Director, Hong Kong Democracy Council
A Hong Kong government spokesperson rejected accusations of political targeting, stating that law enforcement actions "have nothing to do with individuals' political views, background, or occupation."
Pattern of targeting relatives emerges
Kwok is one of 34 activists sought by Hong Kong's national security police for alleged collusion with foreign forces and violations of the city's security laws. She left Hong Kong after participating in the 2019 pro-democracy protests, which drew hundreds of thousands into the streets.
Since 2023, authorities have questioned at least 50 relatives of 19 "absconders"-the term used for individuals wanted on national security charges-according to media tallies. Those summoned include parents, siblings, cousins, and in-laws.
Even figures aligned with Beijing have not been spared. In 2023, pro-Beijing lawmaker Eunice Yung was questioned about her father-in-law, Elmer Yuen, a U.S.-based activist wanted for national security offences. Yung, who had publicly distanced herself from Yuen, said she cooperated with police.
Intimidation tactics extend overseas
Carmen Lau, a UK-based activist, reported that her aunts and uncle were taken in for questioning by national security police in February 2025. Police told AFP that gathering intelligence from relatives of fugitives was routine.
Lau linked the move to her opposition to China's plan to construct a large embassy in London. Around the same time, her UK neighbours received letters offering a £95,000 bounty for information leading to her capture-a tactic also used against at least one other Hong Kong activist in Britain.
The U.S. and UK governments have condemned such bounties as "transnational repression." The Hong Kong government defended the practice, stating it has a duty to pursue suspects "even if they have absconded overseas."
In December, Lau said her neighbours received fabricated, sexualised images of her, the latest in a series of intimidation attempts since she left Hong Kong.
"They want us to self-censor, to stay silent, and to emotionally blackmail us. The police say they want us to return to Hong Kong to face justice. That's their goal."
Carmen Lau, former Hong Kong district councillor
Broader crackdown on dissent
The 2019 protests, sparked by a proposed extradition bill, evolved into Hong Kong's largest pro-democracy movement since the 1997 handover to China. Beijing responded by imposing a national security law in 2020, arguing it was necessary for stability. Critics say the law has criminalised activism and eroded civil liberties.
Hundreds have been arrested under the law, including prominent figures like media tycoon Jimmy Lai, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison earlier this month.
Eric Lai, a senior fellow at Georgetown's Center for Asian Law, told the BBC that Hong Kong's government has "weaponised the courts and laws for political suppression." He described the case against Anna Kwok's father as part of a broader strategy to target non-violent advocates exercising free speech abroad, which he said violates international human rights standards.
The Hong Kong government countered that "absconders" are wanted not for exercising free expression but for "blatantly engaging in activities endangering national security," including lobbying for foreign sanctions.
'They have failed to silence me'
Anna Kwok said the sentencing aimed to make an example of her family but vowed to continue her advocacy.
"There's guilt to grapple with, but also a mission. What I'm trying to show is simple: even if this happens to you, you have to keep going. Hong Kong's government wants to silence me. They want me to stop speaking out. And of course, they have failed. I'm speaking to you now."
Anna Kwok
