Today's arrests reflect the declining state of the rule of law, the UK Government must review the participation of British judges in Hong Kong

Today, four members of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China have been arrested under the National Security Law. The group, which is behind the annual Tiananmen Square Vigil, is subject to a national security investigation and has been accused by the Hong Kong Police of “working with foreign agents”.

The Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China said its Vice-chair Chow Hang-tung and committee members Simon Leung, Sean Tang and Chan To-wai were arrested in the early hours of Wednesday.

The Hong Kong Police has stated that the four were arrested for failing to comply with the implementation rules of Article 43 of the National Security Law which requires individuals’ to hand over all information requested by the Hong Kong Police.

Commenting on the arrests, Benedict Rogers, Hong Kong Watch’s Chief Executive, said:

“Today’s arrests mark a further deterioration in the freedoms and the rule of law Hong Kong once enjoyed.

Where previously the Hong Kong Police would be required to go through a judicial and transparent process to request civil society organisations provide relevant information, today they simply demand and intimidate groups into providing bank accounts, the name of donors, associates, and personal emails and devices in the name of so called “state security”.

The only “crime” the members of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China have committed is holding an annual vigil to remember the Chinese people who were murdered in Tiananmen Square in 1989 by the Chinese Communist Party for daring to call for democracy.

We urge the UK Government to reflect on the declining state of the rule of law in Hong Kong and review the ongoing participation of British judges within its judicial system which increasingly offers this police state a veneer of legitimacy.”