HK security police arrest former boyband member

HONG KONG • A former boyband member turned democracy campaigner has been arrested by Hong Kong's national security police on charges of sedition and money laundering.

Local media said one of two people arrested yesterday was Mr Tommy Yuen, a former member of Cantopop boyband E-Kids.

A police source confirmed to the Agence France-Presse that Mr Yuen was among those arrested. Mr Yuen had been largely out of the spotlight since E-Kids, a pop trio known for their brightly coloured hair and catchy tunes, disbanded in 2004.

But he became an outspoken advocate for democracy protests that convulsed Hong Kong in 2019 but since silenced following a crackdown on dissent.

Senior superintendent Steve Li of Hong Kong's national security police department announced that two men aged 41 and 20 had been arrested yesterday.

Supt Li would not confirm the identities of those arrested, which is standard practice of Hong Kong police. But he said the 41-year-old was a singer and that the other arrested person was a relative. Mr Yuen is 41.

Outlining the police's case, Supt Li accused the 41-year-old singer of "inciting" Hong Kong residents to hate the city's government as well as to try and change the political system.

One example he raised was an online live concert by the singer last year that allegedly contained the phrase "Liberate Hong Kong Revolution of Our Times", a once popular democracy slogan now declared illegal.

"He sang it because he wanted to incite Hong Kong residents to change Hong Kong's system via some unlawful means," Supt Li said. He added that this slogan had already been found by a Hong Kong court to be capable of inciting people to commit secession in the city's first national security case last year involving a former waiter, Tong Ying-kit, who was jailed for nine years.

Supt Li also cited social media posts critical of the government and alleged that the singer had raised some HK$1 million (S$172,300) in donations "to help fellow protesters" arrested during the protests.

China is remoulding Hong Kong using both a sweeping national security law imposed by Beijing and sedition, a once little-used British colonial era law.

China imposed the national security law on Hong Kong in June 2020, punishing acts of subversion, terrorism, collusion with foreign forces and secession with possible life imprisonment.

Critics say the law has been used to silence dissent, with scores of pro-democracy campaigners arrested, civil society groups disbanded and free speech curtailed.

Mr Yuen is the second Hong Kong pop star arrested by national security police in the past three months. Last December, Denise Ho, a much more prominent pop star and LGBTQ campaigner, was arrested for sedition along with journalists at a now shuttered online news platform. She was later released on bail.

Both Mr Yuen and Ho backed the democracy movement and last year found themselves unable to find venues willing to host their concerts.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS