Dubious Requests From Lawyers: Detainees' Families

A family of one of the 12 Hong Kongers detained in Shenzhen has said they're suspicious of a new letter said to be written by the detainee, in which their son asked them to represent him and admit the charges he faces in the local courts.

The parents of the detainee, Li Tsz Yin, were speaking along with other families of the detainees on Saturday, after they received updates about the 12 young people.

Li's father said he became suspicious about his son's request because the judicial systems in Hong Kong and on the mainland are different.

Li's mother added that she had been in touch with the lawyer appointed by mainland authorities over her son's case on the social messaging platform WeChat, but found it unreasonable that the lawyer kept pressing for a family photo.

"I want to confirm his or her identity. I ask if he or she has any contracts...or which firm he or she worked at, but he or she refused to say. I replied I can't tell if you're a scammer," Mrs Li said.

"But the lawyer stressed that at this stage his or her identity is not important, the most crucial thing is for me to send a family photo."

Another detainee's mother added that the appointed lawyer had spoken to them at length about what the detainee allegedly did in Hong Kong over the phone, which she found "weird".

The mother of Wong Wai-yin said she can't understand why the lawyer spoke to her on the phone for over one hour and asked mostly about the case that Wong faced in the Hong Kong courts.

The twelve were captured by the Guangdong coastguard in late August, as they allegedly tried to flee to Taiwan after being arrested in the SAR over protest-related offences.

One of them was accused of breaching the SAR's national security law.

And with their capture in mainland waters, prosecutors across the border had earlier confirmed that 10 members of the group are now accused of entering the mainland's jurisdiction illegally, with the other two facing a more serious charge of organising the illegal crossing.

The twelve have been detained in Shenzhen for over 110 days, with the families pressing mainland authorities to announce the dates for their trials so they can see if they can allow time for quarantine and head to the mainland to listen in.