The trial of Hong Kong democracy activist Anna Kwok’s father began today.

He’s accused of “handling assets of an absconder”—a charge transparently designed to punish Anna, who lives abroad and has a bounty on her head from Hong Kong’s National Security Police for her advocacy work.

The prosecution's agreed facts in court make clear how hollow the case is. In 1999, Anna’s father bought her a small life insurance policy—worth just US$11,000 when it expired in 2020. The prosecution’s own witness, the insurance agent that Mr. Kwok continued paying for the policy himself and that Anna never signed or paid anything. No allegation has been made that Mr. Kwok intended to provide these funds to Anna, or that he has ever financially supported Anna after her arrest warrant.

The insurance agent, who was just doing his job, was interrogated for 14 hours by the National Security Department and threatened with prosecution if he didn't testify.

This is what “rule of law” looks like in Hong Kong today: a father dragged into court for buying life insurance for his daughter 25 years ago, all to intimidate a democracy activist across the world into silence.

Western companies still operating in Hong Kong should also take note of what was done to this insurance agent: by operating in a city run by thugs, you are putting your employees in danger of interrogation and threats of arrest for simply doing their jobs.

Chinese report: https://t.co/9H0bFTct4v

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