Relatives Of Detained 12 Demand Info On Arrests

Family members of some of the 12 Hong Kong people reportedly intercepted in mainland waters last month on Sunday demanded local authorities to prove that they weren’t actually arrested in local waters by the mainland coast guard.

They also want Hong Kong officials to contact the detainees being held in Shenzhen either in person or by phone, to check on their latest condition to ensure that they aren’t injured.

The relatives say Hong Kong officials should also help ensure that their loved ones are allowed access to lawyers they hired, after the counsels were repeatedly barred from meeting the detainees.

Security secretary John Lee had said on Saturday that they had chosen their own lawyers from a list provided by mainland authorities.

Mainland officials have said the 12 were arrested on August 23 for illegally entering mainland waters in a speedboat, reportedly during a journey to flee the SAR for Taiwan.

Most of them have been charged for protest-related offences here and barred from leaving Hong Kong. One has been charged with violating the national security law.

Relatives of six of the detainees met with police at their Wan Chai headquarters on Sunday to demand more information about the circumstances of the arrests.

A localist politician helping the families, Owen Chow, said they want proof that the arrests did not take place in local waters.

“There are a lot of dubious questions yet to be answered, the reasons of refusing the lawyers’ visits or whether the Chinese coast guard entered Hong Kong waters to enforce the law,” he said.

They asked the police for information on exactly when and where the arrests took place, and for radar records showing the locations of the Hong Kong marine police while they were taken into custody.