The National Security Department of the Hong Kong Police Force arrested 10 people today (10 August) for suspected “conspiracy to collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security”, contravening Article 29 of the National Security Law and inciting riot. The arrested persons were alleged of conspiracy to collude with the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund (“612 Fund”) to receive donations from various overseas organisations to support people who have fled overseas or organisations which called for sanctions against Hong Kong. Together with the five trustees and one officer arrested in 2022, a total of 16 people have been arrested in connection with the activities of the 612 Fund.
The 612 Fund was set up by Hong Kong’s civil society in response to the human rights crisis arising from the Anti-extradition Law Amendment Bill (“Anti-ELAB”) protests in 2019, with the aim of providing humanitarian support to those who have been arrested, injured or affected, including medical treatment, psychological counselling, criminal or civil proceedings, and emergency financial assistance.
A spokesperson for the Hong Kong Centre for Human Rights said:
“The actions of the Hong Kong Police Force aim to undermine and stifle the ability and space for Hong Kong’s civil society to respond to human rights crises on its own initiative. We emphasise that everyone has the right to legal assistance and medical treatment. These rights are protected by international human rights laws as well as the Basic Law, and should not be compromised by political conflict between the Government and the public; any person or organisation that assists members of the public in obtaining legal assistance and appropriate medical treatment is acting in the public interest and protecting human rights, and should not be regarded as committing a criminal offence.”
“We find the accusation against the 612 Fund of inciting riots to be absurd. The Hong Kong government and police used excessive force in handling the Anti-ELAB protests, rejected dialogue with the people, and acquiesced police abuse of powers and afforded impunity. These attributed to the escalation of conflicts between Hong Kong people, the police force and the government. The 612 Fund was established to urgently respond to the dire needs for legal and medical assistance. We condemn the government for not taking responsibility for its violations of human rights, but repeatedly persecuting civil society organisations for providing humanitarian and legal support to victims. These recent arrests have once again proved that the government has weaponised the law to suppress human rights.”
“These arrests demonstrate once again that the so-called human rights protections in Article 4 of the National Security Law are completely ineffective. They also proved that international human rights experts were right in pointing out that the National Security Law was vague and could lead to arbitrary applications, harming human rights, civil society and human rights defenders. We question whether the court has fulfilled its obligation under Article 39 of the Basic Law and Article 4 of the National Security Law when it issued a warrant to the police to search the arrested person’s home and office, in considering whether the police’s investigation has violated the rights guaranteed by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.”
“The work of the 612 Humanitarian Relief Fund is considered as “human rights defenders” under the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders. The Fund should be protected by international human rights law, and the government should not threaten, retaliate, or use the law to harass or persecute them.”
Hong Kong Centre for Human Rights urges the Hong Kong government to fulfil its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to stop harassing members and organisations of civil society. Hong Kong government should end the criminal investigation of the 612 Humanitarian Support Fund, and to drop all allegations and restrictions against those arrested.