MADRID 27 Dic. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The US Government denounced this Thursday that the rewards recently announced by Hong Kong against six activists living abroad, some of them in the United States, constitute “a form of transnational repression.”
“Hong Kong’s extraterritorial application of national security laws is a form of transnational repression that threatens American sovereignty and the human rights and fundamental freedoms of people around the world,” reads a statement from the State Department.
Washington considers that “these actions demonstrate the contempt of the Hong Kong authorities for international standards and for the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly”, which is why it has urged the Hong Kong government to “stop using its laws of national security to silence dissent.
In this sense, he has “rejected the Hong Kong Government’s efforts to intimidate and silence people who decide to settle in the United States.” “We do not hesitate in our defense of those who are subject to persecution simply for exercising their right to freedom of expression,” he stressed.
Hong Kong on Tuesday offered rewards of one million Hong Kong dollars (123,600 euros) for six pro-democracy activists considered guilty of violating national security laws, while revoking the passports of seven more.