HONG KONG, Feb 11 — A Hong Kong court convicted the father of a wanted pro-democracy activist today for handling money belonging to his daughter overseas, the first such verdict issued under the city’s homegrown national security law.

Authorities in the Chinese finance hub have vowed to pursue overseas “fugitives” accused of endangering national security and have issued bounties on 34 people so far, moves decried by some Western countries as transnational repression.

Hong Kong placed a HK$1 million (RM500,000) bounty on overseas pro-democracy advocate Anna Kwok in 2023, and later made it a crime for anyone to deal with an absconder’s funds or other financial assets.

Her father Kwok Yin-sang, 69, was found guilty on Wednesday of attempting to withdraw a balance of around US$11,000 (RM43,191) by terminating an insurance policy he bought for his daughter when she was an infant.

He was the first person charged for this offence and pleaded not guilty at trial.

Acting Principal Magistrate Cheng Lim-chi said the defendant clearly knew that his daughter was an absconder and that the insurance policy met the legal definition of funds that belonged to her.

Anna Kwok said on social media that Hong Kong authorities were retaliating against her activism and called the conviction “hostage taking”.

“Today, my father was convicted simply for being my father,” she wrote, adding that the charges were founded on an “incoherent fiction” as she did not receive funds from him or anyone else in Hong Kong.

Human Rights Watch called the verdict “cruel and vindictive”, as well as an “alarming act of collective punishment”.

Joey Siu, spokeswoman for Amnesty International Hong Kong Overseas, said the ruling was a “disturbing escalation” in the city’s use of its homegrown national security law, passed in 2024 after similar legislation was imposed by Beijing from 2020.

Kwok was remanded in custody pending sentencing on February 26.

Defence lawyer Steven Kwan argued that the level of criminal culpability was low, and that the money did not end up supporting activities that endanger national security.

The magistrate can hand out jail terms of up to two years. — AFP