12 Hong Kong residents absconded | UN Human Rights Office urges China to ensure that arrested persons quickly contact their chosen lawyers

Instant International

Author: Cheng Yihua

2020-09-19 21:28

Last update date: 2020-09-19 23:56

At the end of August, 12 Hong Kong people were arrested by the Guangdong Coast Guard when they were suspected of absconding from the country. They are now being detained in the Shenzhen Yantian District Detention Center.

On September 18, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights posted a message on social networking sites, urging the Chinese government to ensure that the incident is handled through due process, including allowing the arrested person to quickly contact the legal representative of his choice.

We urge Chinese authorities to ensure due process rights to group of 12 Hong Kongers arrested at sea, including swift access to legal representation of their choosing.

— UN Human Rights (@UNHumanRights) September 18, 2020

The office tweeted that it urged the Chinese government to ensure that the 12 Hong Kong people arrested at sea have the right to due process in the incident, including allowing them to quickly contact the legal representative of their choice.

In an interview with "Wireless News", the Secretary for Security Li Jiachao of Hong Kong pointed out that 12 Hong Kong people are in good physical condition. Two lawyers have been selected according to the list of lawyers provided by the authorities. They have also followed up the lawyers' information to the Mainland for the families of the arrested persons to contact.

However, the family members of the arrested persons posted a statement on the Facebook page "12 Hong Kong People Concern Group", stating that they were astonished by Li Jiachao's statement, emphasizing that they had repeatedly stated their rejection of "officially appointed lawyers" and urged the authorities to immediately ask the family members to appoint a lawyer Interview the detainee.

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