Hong Kong
Prominent human rights defender arrested by police
One of Hong Kong’s most prominent human rights defenders was arrested by city police on Tuesday for alleged witness tampering, a police source told AFP.
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Image d’archive d’Albert Ho.
AFP
Albert Ho is already facing up to ten years in prison for “inciting subversion” under the national security law imposed by Beijing on Hong Kong in 2020 after sometimes violent pro-democracy protests in the city. He is this time accused of having “interfered with witnesses” while he was out on bail, said the source, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.
His trial for incitement to subversion is ongoing, and Albert Ho was released on bail in August after spending almost a year in prison. The conditions of this release include, in particular, the prohibition of making statements representing a threat to national security. Violating these rules can trigger immediate arrest, according to Hong Kong law.
Series
The 71-year-old lawyer once led the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance, a group that for more than 30 years held annual vigils to commemorate the deadly 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown.
Albert Ho’s arrest is the latest in a series that has seen, among others, his brother Fred Ho also arrested under national security law. The latter, also a lawyer, represented labor rights defender Elizabeth Tang Yin-Ngor.
Elizabeth Tang Yin-Ngor, general secretary of the International Domestic Workers Federation, was arrested on suspicion of “collusion with foreign forces”. She was also released on bail, but her sister and Fred Ho were in turn arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to corrupt justice. They have also since been released on bail.
(AFP)