An Australian citizen targeted by a Hong Kong arrest warrant has vowed not to be silenced, saying he feels an obligation to jailed fellow pro-democracy activists “not to shut up”.
Kevin Yam, a lawyer who lived in Hong Kong for 20 years before returning to Australia last year, was one of eight overseas-based activists accused by the city’s police on Monday of breaching its sweeping national security law.
Yam, who has criticised the crackdown on dissent and erosion of judicial independence in Hong Kong, told Guardian Australia: “I kind of knew that this could happen one day – it is what it is.
“I owe it to all the friends and fellow activists who are currently in jail and are largely silenced not to shut up,” said Yam, who is based in Melbourne.
“I’m lucky to do so in a democracy where the right to free speech is valued.”
The eight people include activists based in the UK and the US. In addition to Yam, a second person based in Australia is on the list: Ted Hui, a pro-democracy figure who fled Hong Kong via Europe in 2021.
Hong Kong police officer Supt Steve Li Kwai-wah told a press conference on Monday that the pro-democracy activists, former lawmakers and legal scholars had “encouraged sanctions … to destroy Hong Kong”.
They are accused of continuing to violate the national security law while in exile, charges that carry a maximum life sentence. Hong Kong police also offered a reward of HK$1m (A$191,000) per person.
The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said the Australian government was “deeply disappointed” by the announcement and vowed to defend free speech.
“Freedom of expression and assembly are essential to our democracy, and we will support those in Australia who exercise those rights,” she said.
The arrest warrants coincide with the Australian government’s attempts to “stabilise” the relationship with China, but Wong said Canberra had “consistently expressed concerns about the broad application of the national security law to arrest or pressure pro-democracy figures and civil society”.
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“Australia remains deeply concerned by the continuing erosion of Hong Kong’s rights, freedoms and autonomy,” she said.
The arrest warrants are unlikely to have any immediate practical effect, because Australia suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong in 2020.
The then Coalition government froze the treaty on the grounds that China’s imposition of a new national security law on Hong Kong – with extraterritorial reach to dissidents anywhere in the world – was a fundamental change of circumstances.
Since China imposed the new national security law on Hong Kong three years ago, there has been a steady crackdown on dissent. Those charged and jailed have included numerous pro-democracy figures, former lawmakers and students, along with the media tycoon Jimmy Lai.
Donald Rothwell, a professor of international law at the Australian National University, said it was unclear whether Hong Kong had sought to formally issue international arrest warrants for the eight people.
“That is important, as while there may be warrants for their arrest in Hong Kong, that applies nowhere else other than in China,” he said.
Rothwell said even if Australia became aware of an international arrest warrant for Yam and Hui, Australia would not act on the request due to the suspension of the extradition treaty with Hong Kong.
“While at present Yam and Hui are legally protected in Australia from potential extradition to Hong Kong, they would lose that protection if they travelled outside of Australia where they could become subject to an Interpol notification and/or extradition arrangements between other countries and Hong Kong,” Rothwell said.
“That Hong Kong has issued bounties for these persons and indicated that others assisting these persons may also be in breach of the national security law could have implications for family members in Hong Kong, and also for their family members and associates in Australia.”
Yam said he was “heartened to see that the Australian government has stood up for Australians’ right to free expression in Australia”.
“I’m going to live life as normally as I have done since I came back to Australia. I’m exercising my rights as an Australian. As the foreign minister said, we’re a country that values free expression – and I intend to exercise that in relation to Hong Kong.”
The opposition’s acting foreign affairs spokesperson, James Paterson, said the bounty “represents an unacceptable attempt to silence and intimidate critics of the Chinese government living in Australia”.
Paterson said the move “further demonstrates the corrosive effects of the national security law to democratic principles and the rule of law in Hong Kong”.
Hui, based in Adelaide, was contacted for comment. But he told the Australian Financial Review the “ridiculous” bounty would make it “clearer to the western democracies that China is going towards more extreme authoritarianism and more of a threat to the world”.
Hui told the newspaper the Chinese Communist party was “powerless” in response to member of the Hong Kong diaspora who advocated for freedom and democracy.
Comment was also sought from the Chinese embassy in Canberra.
