HONG KONG — The families of a dozen Hong Kong activists arrested at sea last month spoke out for the first time on Saturday, pleading with the Chinese government to allow the detainees access to their chosen lawyers. The 12 activists — at least one of whom had previously been arrested under the sweeping national security law that China imposed on Hong Kong in June — were apparently trying to flee to Taiwan when the Chinese Coast Guard stopped them about 45 miles southeast of Hong Kong Island. The detentions highlight the concerns that kindled a mass protest movement in Hong Kong last year, when a plan to allow extraditions to mainland China stirred fears that Hong Kong residents would become ensnared in the mainland’s opaque legal system. Hong Kong is a semiautonomous part of China, with its own legal system and stronger protections for individual rights than the rest of the country. Family members said that the mainland authorities claimed the detainees had appointed their own lawyers, whom the families rejected as government-assigned representatives who were unlikely to help.

Source: International New York Times September 12, 2020 11:15 UTC