'Exiled Ted Hui Could Be Disqualified From Council'

Former Democratic Party lawmaker Ted Hui, who has announced he is going into exile, faces disqualification from the District Council if he doesn’t attend meetings for four consecutive months without obtaining the consent of the council, the home affairs secretary warned on Saturday.

But Caspar Tsui declined to comment further as authorities had not received a resignation letter from Hui.

"The district council will have to discuss the matter ... I won't speculate [on their decision], but we will be monitoring," Tsui said on a radio programme.

Hui, a Central and Western district councillor, said earlier in the week that he was going into exile in the UK, after arriving in Denmark. He said the new national security law meant he could end up being jailed for decades for simply talking about human rights in Hong Kong.

The activist faces a number of protest-related prosecutions in Hong Kong.

Separately, the home affairs chief said authorities would step up inspections in crowded places after the fixed penalty for violating social distancing rules was raised to HK$5,000 from December 11.

He said the move was to strengthen people’s law-abiding awareness.