The father of a US-based Hong Kong activist has been convicted under the national security law

hong kong — Father is an activist based in the United States Wanted by Hong Kong authorities He was found guilty of trying to handle a fugitive’s financial assets on Wednesday, in the first court case of its kind to be brought under a local court. National Security Law.

Kwok Yin Sang’s daughter Anna is executive director of the Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council. Authorities in 2023 offered HK$1 million (about $127,900) for information leading to her arrest, and later banned anyone from handling any money for them — widely seen as part of a year-long campaign. campaign On challenges to Beijing’s rule following massive anti-government protests in 2019.

Kwok, 69, was arrested in April 2025 under the security law known locally as Article 23 Legislationreleased a year ago. He was accused of trying to obtain money from an insurance policy in his daughter’s name. He pleaded not guilty.

Acting Principal Magistrate Cheng Lim Chee convicted him on Wednesday, saying Kwok knew his daughter was a runaway and he was trying to deal with her assets.

According to previous hearings, Kwok bought Anna’s insurance policy when she was a young child and took control of it when she turned 18. The court heard that in 2025 the father wanted to cancel the policy and get money from it.

Kwok’s lawyer, Stephen Kwan, asked for a lighter sentence for his client, saying there was no evidence to show his client was trying to get money to send to his daughter. He suggested the judge consider a 14-day jail sentence.

While the maximum penalty for his charge is seven years in prison, his case was heard in the magistrates’ courts, which usually impose a maximum prison sentence of two years.

He is scheduled to be sentenced on February 26.

The authorities accused the daughter of requesting foreign sanctions and blockades and engaging in other hostile activities against China and Hong Kong by meeting foreign politicians and government officials.

After the ruling, the Hong Kong Democratic Council said on Channel X that it “represents another escalation of transnational repression.”

Police bounties targeting Hong Kong activists based abroad, including former pro-democracy lawmakers Nathan Law and Ted Hui, have drawn criticism from the US and UK governments.

In 2025, Washington Sanctions were imposed on six Chinese and Hong Kong officials who it alleged were involved in “transnational repression” and actions that threatened to further undermine the city’s autonomy. It said Beijing and Hong Kong officials used it Hong Kong’s national security laws are extraterritorial To intimidate, silence and harass some activists who were forced to flee abroad.

Weeks later, China said so He will be punished US officials, lawmakers and NGO leaders who she said “performed poorly” on Hong Kong issues.

After Beijing imposed the 2020 national security law on the city, several prominent activists were arrested or silenced. Others fled abroad and continued their defense of Hong Kong, the British colony that returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

The Chinese and Hong Kong governments insist that security laws are necessary for the city’s stability.

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This story has been updated to reflect that Kwok Yin Sang was arrested in April 2025, not May.