FILE – Hong Kong activist Nathan Legislation attends a candlelight vigil outdoors the Chinese language Embassy in London on June 4, 2023, to mark the anniversary of China’s bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Beijing’s Tiananmen Sq..
Kin Cheung/AP
cover caption
toggle caption
Kin Cheung/AP
BEIJING — An activist needed by the Hong Kong authorities stated he was denied entry to Singapore over the weekend for what he presumes had been political causes.
Nathan Legislation, who fled Hong Kong in 2020 and relies in London, stated he was detained on the Singapore airport on Saturday night time and instructed 4 hours later that his entry had been denied.
He was going to attend a closed-door, invitation-only occasion, he stated in a press release, with out elaborating.
Legislation is one among various Hong Kong activists who’ve left the town in recent times after the adoption of a Nationwide Safety Legislation that has put others in jail.
He stated he had acquired a visa from Singapore to attend the occasion and departed on a flight from San Francisco. No motive was given for the denial, he stated. He boarded a airplane again to San Francisco on Sunday after about 14 hours in Singapore.
“I feel the choice to disclaim my entry was political, though I’m uncertain whether or not exterior forces, such because the PRC, are concerned, straight or not directly,” his assertion stated, referring to China by the acronym for its official title, the Individuals’s Republic of China.
Legislation declined additional remark.
A Singapore authorities assertion confirmed that he had been refused entry, saying a visa holder is topic to additional checks on the border. It famous that Hong Kong police have issued a warrant for Legislation’s arrest beneath the town’s Nationwide Safety Legislation.
“Legislation’s entry into and presence within the nation wouldn’t be in Singapore’s nationwide pursuits,” the assertion from the Residence Affairs Ministry stated.
Singapore has an extradition settlement with Hong Kong nevertheless it would not seem to cowl nationwide safety crimes.
Hong Kong police issued warrants for Legislation and different self-exiled activists in 2023 and provided rewards of 1 million Hong Kong {dollars} ($127,600) for info resulting in their arrest.
Legislation is accused of colluding with international events and inciting secession for allegedly calling for sanctions and Hong Kong’s separation from China in conferences with international officers and in open letters, petitions, social media posts and media interviews.
Hong Kong is a Chinese language territory with its personal legal guidelines and rules, however the central authorities in Beijing cracked down in 2020 after huge anti-government the earlier yr, imposing a Nationwide Safety Legislation on the town of seven.5 million individuals.
Legislation rose to prominence as a pupil chief of the pro-democracy Umbrella Revolution in 2014 together with Joshua Wong, who’s imprisoned in Hong Kong.
Legislation was elected to the legislature in 2016 however disqualified after he raised his tone whereas swearing allegiance to China throughout the oath of workplace, making it sound like a query.
