Hong Kong groups call for Canadian sanctions over activist arrest warrants
Global News
The groups urged Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand to sanction high-ranking Hong Kong police and government officials after Canadian activists were among those targeted.
Canadian groups supporting Hong Kong’s democracy movement are calling on the federal government to impose targeted sanctions after arrest warrants and bounties were issued for overseas activists, including Canadians.
The groups sent a letter to Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand on Friday urging Ottawa to sanction high-ranking Hong Kong police and government officials — including Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu, the current and former police commissioner, and sitting judges — who the activists say have played “critical roles in enforcing the region’s repressive policies.”
“The actions of these officials constitute a direct attack on the principles of democracy, human rights, and the rule of law,” reads the letter signed by Edmund Leung, who chairs the Vancouver Society in Support of Democratic Movement, on behalf of 10 pro-democracy groups across the country.
“Canada has a moral and legal obligation to respond decisively. By imposing these sanctions, Canada will send a strong message to the world that it stands firmly against human rights abuses and authoritarian overreach.”
The letter seeks sanctions against Hong Kong’s justice and security secretaries, the chief superintendent of national security, and 10 Hong Kong judges who the Canadian groups say are “complicit in judicial repression” by overseeing trials of pro-democracy activists.
A Crown prosecutor who played a “key role” in those prosecutions, Anthony Chau Tin-hang, is also named.
Hong Kong police announced on July 25 it had issued arrest warrants for 19 activists accused of “suspected contravention” of its National Security Law for their roles in promoting self-determination in the Chinese special administrative region.
The law was imposed by Beijing in 2020 following widespread protests the year before, part of a crackdown on dissent that gave China much stronger control and influence in the region.
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