A Hong Kong court found the father of a wanted \u200bactivist guilty of a national security violation on Wednesday after he tried to end her insurance policy and withdraw the \u200bfunds, drawing international criticism for the targeting of relatives of pro-democracy campaigners. Kwok \u200bYin-sang, 68, is the first \u2060person to be charged under a homegrown national security law, also known as Article 23, for “attempting to \u200bdeal with, directly \u200cor indirectly, any funds or other financial assets or economic resources” belonging to an absconder. His daughter, Anna Kwok, helps lead the Washington-based advocacy group Hong \u200bKong Democracy Council, and is one of 34 overseas activists wanted by Hong Kong national security police. She is accused of colluding with foreign forces and police have offered \u200ca bounty of \u200cHK$1 million ($127,400) for her \u200barrest. Kwok Yin-sang was accused of trying to withdraw funds totalling HK$88,609 ($11,342) from an education savings insurance policy which he bought for he
r when she was almost two years old. He had pleaded not guilty and did \u200bnot testify at the trial. Acting Principal Magistrate Cheng Lim-chi said since Anna Kwok is a fugitive, directly or indirectly handling her insurance policy is illegal. A sentence is yet to be pronounced. According \u200bto the prosecution, when Kwok was arrested, he said under police caution: “I know my daughter is wanted by the Security Bureau. I was the one paying for her insurance policy. Since she’s no longer in Hong Kong, I just cut it.” Kwok Yin-sang had initially been \u200cdenied bail but he was later granted bail by the High Court with conditions imposed including a travel ban and a ban on communication with his daughter. During the closing submission, \u2060defense lawyer Steven Kwan argued \u200bthat section 89 and 90 of Article 23 should not apply in a case where a person was simply handling an insurance policy he had purchased a long time ago for \u2060his children. “This … is a \u2060form of prosecuti<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A Hong Kong court found the father of a wanted \u200bactivist guilty of a national security violation on Wednesday after he tried to end her insurance policy and withdraw the \u200bfunds, drawing international criticism for the targeting of relatives of pro-democracy campaigners. Kwok \u200bYin-sang, 68, is the first \u2060person to be charged under a homegrown […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-36522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n