UN urges China to 'ensure due process rights' to 12 Hongkongers detained at sea

United Nations (UN) Human Rights Office has urged China to ensure that the 12 Hong Kong people arrested last month by Chinese authorities at the sea are ‘ensured due process rights’ along with legal representation after relatives of the detainees claimed that their rights were being violated. The relatives of the 12 Hong Kongers, who were reportedly seeing to flee to Taiwan by sea, arrested by Chinese authorities had organised an emotional news conference on September 12 demanding the group to let them meet the lawyers they hire themselves and not the ones appointed by the China government. 

This was followed by China saying on September 13 that the Hong Kong residents were “separatists” while the United States Secretary Mile Pompeo dubbed the move like a human rights violation. Before UN issued its statement on Twitter, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying has called out her US counterpart Morgan Ortagus for calling them "democratic activists" alleging that they were arrested for illegally crossing the border. The US has raised ‘deep concern’ over the detention and even urged Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam to stay committed to protecting the rights of the city residents. 

The US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said, “The United States is deeply concerned that 12 Hong Kong democracy activists, arrested two weeks ago off the coast of Hong Kong by Guangdong Maritime Police, have been denied access to lawyers of their choice. We question Chief Executive Carrie Lam's stated commitment to protecting the rights of Hong Kong residents, and call on authorities to ensure due process.” 

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Hong Kong ‘won’t interfere’ in the arrests

According to international media reports, earlier this week, Hong Kong government reportedly said that it ‘won’t interfere’ with the detention of the 12 of its residents despite the pleas of their relatives citing the crime to fall under the mainland Chinese jurisdiction. The former British colony’s administration reportedly said on September 14 that the authorities have received several requests for help from the families of the residents detained for illegal entry into the mainland after trying to flee to Taiwan. Further adding that such crimes fall under the Chinese government and therefore, Hong Kong ‘will not interfere’ in the law enforcement actions.

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(With AP inputs)