HONG KONG – Hong Kong’s national security police detained a prominent pro-democracy activist on Thursday, in the first reported arrest under the security law in about 10 months, according to local media reports.
Ms Elizabeth Tang was arrested over allegations of colluding with foreign forces, reported the South China Morning Post. Ms Tang, who is married to jailed activist Lee Cheuk-yan, was arrested outside Stanley Prison after visiting her husband, according to reports.
Ms Tang was chief executive of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (HKCTU), the city’s largest pro-democracy labour organisation, from 1995 to 2011, according to her LinkedIn profile.
Like many such groups, the HKCTU disbanded in 2021, after Beijing passed the national security law for Hong Kong in 2020. Ms Tang is currently the general secretary of the International Domestic Workers Federation.
The arrest is the first known detention for a national security offence since May 11, 2022, when four prominent democracy activists, including a senior member of the Catholic church, were held. It is also the first since Chief Executive John Lee became the city’s leader in July 2022.
The police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Ms Tang recently returned to Hong Kong after moving to Britain in September 2021, The Standard newspaper reported.
Her husband, who was chairman of a group that organised the annual Tiananmen Square vigil, has been charged with subversion under the national security law. He is in jail for his role in unauthorised protests in 2019 and 2020. Lee founded the HKCTU in 1990. BLOOMBERG
