On July 3, 2023, Hong Kong police issued arrest warrants and placed a HK$1-million bounty on 8 internationally based activists, including MLI’s fellow and Ambassador on Canada-Hong Kong Policy, Nathan Law.
MLI stands firmly behind Nathan Law (and all the wrongfully accused activists). We condemn this act of attempted transnational repression and call it out for what it is: authoritarian thuggery and an unacceptable disregard for the sovereignty of the nations in which Nathan and other activists lawfully reside.
While Nathan and others were previously wanted on trumped up charges of violating ‘national security’, the addition of a bounty on his head represents a growing determination by Beijing to eliminate all political dissidence.
With his typical boldness and concision, Nathan Law took to Twitter and explained:
“I am just a Hongkonger who speaks out for Hongkongers. I hope that all friends on the list are well, and I ask Hongkongers not to cooperate with any related pursuit or bounty actions. We should not limit ourselves, self-censor, be intimidated, or live in fear.”
At MLI we’re honoured to support Nathan in his courageous stand against tyranny.
Among the list of those that Beijing has attempted to silence is Dennis Kwok, a former member of the Hong Kong Legislative Council and a Canadian national. MLI had the privilege to host Dennis in Ottawa last summer.
For MLI’s part, we’ll chalk this up as simply one more failed attempt by global authoritarian actors to discredit and silence our work. MLI has been blacklisted by Beijing and listed as an ‘undesirable organization’ by the Kremlin (who also attempted to have our website taken down earlier this year). Several of our senior fellows have been sanctioned by Russia and now one of our senior fellows is facing trumped up charges and a bounty on his head from Beijing.
But Nathan is right; we can’t back down. At MLI we have no intention of limiting ourselves, censoring our commentary, or being intimidated by bad actors.
For further information, media are invited to contact:
Skander Belouizdad
Communications Officer
613-482-8327 x111
skander.belouizdad@macdonaldlaurier.ca
