Pro-democracy campaigner Nathan Law fears for safety after Hong Kong police issues arrest warrants against eight overseas activists
A pro-democracy leader, who fled Hong Kong, has said his life became more dangerous as a bounty was offered for his arrest, media reports said.
Nathan Law, who lives in the UK, is among eight exiled activists wanted by the territory's police, reports BBC.
Authorities are offering rewards of HK$1 million (£100,581; $127,637) for information leading to the capture of the leader.
Law told BBC he needed to be "more careful" about divulging his whereabouts as a result of the bounty.
The eight activists targeted are accused of colluding with foreign forces - a crime that can carry a sentence of life in prison. The offence comes under Hong Kong's draconian security law, which was imposed three years ago after widespread pro-democracy protests took place in 2019, the British media reported.
UK's Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said his nation will not tolerate any attempts by China to intimidate and silence individuals in the UK and overseas."
" The UK will always defend the universal right to freedom of expression and stand up for those who are targeted," he said in a statement.
" We strongly object to the National Security Law that China imposed on Hong Kong, including its extraterritorial reach, in breach of the legally binding Sino-British Joint Declaration," he said.
He said: " We call on Beijing to remove the National Security Law and for the Hong Kong authorities to end their targeting of those who stand up for freedom and democracy."
Support Our Journalism
We cannot do without you.. your contribution supports unbiased journalism
IBNS is not driven by any ism- not wokeism, not racism, not skewed secularism, not hyper right-wing or left liberal ideals, nor by any hardline religious beliefs or hyper nationalism. We want to serve you good old objective news, as they are. We do not judge or preach. We let people decide for themselves. We only try to present factual and well-sourced news.