Hong Kong national security police have reportedly detained the daughter, son, and daughter-in-law of a wanted activist, in the latest move targeting the families of pro-democracy figures in exile.
Mimi Mi Wahng Yuen, the daughter of Elmer Yuen, her brother Derek, and his wife, the legislator Eunice Yung, were taken for questioning on Monday morning, according to local media. Sing Tao Daily reported Mimi had only arrived from Los Angeles on Monday morning.
Hong Kong police told the Guardian one man and two women had been detained but did not name them.
“They are suspected of assisting persons wanted by police to continue to commit acts and engage in activities that endanger national security,” a duty officer said in a statement.
“Investigation is under way and further operations, including arrest, may be made. In conducting any operation, police will act on the basis of actual circumstances and according to the law.”
Elmer Yuen, 74, is accused of having encouraged foreign countries to impose sanctions on Hong Kong officials and judges, online from the US, and promoting Hong Kong’s self-determination. Derek Yuen is a former political adviser to the pro-establishment New People’s party, of which his wife, Eunice Yung, is a member. Hong Kong Free Press reported Yung had cut ties with the elder Yuen in 2022, and called for him to return to Hong Kong after authorities issued an arrest warrant for him.
Yung told media on Monday afternoon her home had been searched by 10 national security police, and she was questioned for three hours.
“I cooperated with the police and have told them everything I know. I know the police have made up their mind to seek evidence relating to the eight wanted [activists] and I support the police action,” she said, according to the Hong Kong Free Press.
Yung said she was innocent and wanted to protect her family. She said she had warned her husband not to involve himself with anyone suspected of violating the national security law and that if she knew of Elmer Yuen’s whereabouts she would “definitely disclose it to the police”.
Media reported Derek Yuen was still being questioned at the time of his wife’s press conference, and was later released without taking questions from press.
Authorities in Hong Kong recently announced bounties of HK$1m (£99,500) on eight activists wanted for arrest. All are based overseas, including the UK, US and Australia, and are accused of continuing to violate the 2020 national security law while in exile.
All eight left Hong Kong after the introduction of the law, which authorities have wielded as part of an expansive crackdown on pro-democracy opposition after the 2019 mass protests.
The activists are Nathan Law, Anna Kwok, Finn Lau, Dennis Kwok, Ted Hui, Kevin Yam, Mung Siu-tat and Yuen, high-profile pro-democracy activists, former lawmakers and legal scholars, who the police said “encouraged sanctions … to destroy Hong Kong”.
The bounties were condemned at the time by the UK, US, and Australian governments.
The UK foreign secretary, James Cleverly, said the arrest warrants were a “further example of the authoritarian reach of China’s extraterritorial law”.
The US state department spokesperson, Matthew Miller, said Hong Kong’s attempts to apply the law outside its borders were “a dangerous precedent that threatens the human rights and fundamental freedoms of people all over the world”.
Two of the activists – Hui and Lam – live in Australia. Australia’s foreign minister, Penny Wong, said Canberra had repeatedly expressed concern about the national security law’s application and was “deeply disappointed” with the warrants.
The questioning of Yuen’s family on Monday is at least the fourth action against the families of wanted activists this month by the national security police division, which was formed in 2020 to enforce the controversial law.
This month, officers raided the home of Law’s family, and last week they raided the homes of the families of Kwok and the UK-based labour activist Christopher Mung.
Kwok’s brother and relatives of Mung were among people taken away for questioning by the police. Police at the time said the questioning related to suspicion of “assisting the fugitives to continue to engage in acts that endanger national security”.
