HKDC on the Second Round of Intimidation of Anna Kwok’s Family
Washington, D.C. (Aug. 22, 2023) — In response to reports of the two elder brothers of HKDC’s Executive Director, Anna Kwok, being interrogated in Hong Kong on Tuesday, HKDC issues the following statement.
From the Hong Kong Democracy Council:
“Having unjustifiably taken in Anna’s parents for questioning only two weeks ago, national-security agents today broadened their harassment campaign that targeted additional individuals unconnected to her work with HKDC and her pro-democracy activism at large. Anna thus joins at least two of the seven other overseas dissidents placed on the HK$1 million bounty list to cope with a second round of friends and family members under high-profile interrogation. While this tactic — long a staple of the Chinese transnational-repression toolbox — was unheard of in Hong Kong until very recently, there’s no sign of it subsiding now that the pressure has begun.”
“The HKDC team reiterates both our forceful condemnation of the Hong Kong government’s actions as well as our continued, unwavering support for Anna. We call on allies in the global community to do the same. Rapidly-escalating levels of political repression directed by Beijing to which we must now be accustomed have transpired before all of us. ‘Every day is a new challenge brought on by the most powerful dictatorship in the world.’ But the crackdown, as we wrote earlier this month, ‘will not smother the growing international movement for democracy in Hong Kong.’ Together, our resolve is strong.”
