Hong Kong Trade Union Leader Arrested After Visiting Husband in Jail

Hong Kong police on Thursday arrested trade union leader Elizabeth Tang after she visited her husband, a pro-democracy activist being held in a high-security prison, said a source close to the couple and to domestic media.

Tang was General Secretary of the International Federation of Domestic Workers and former chief executive of the now-disbanded Confederation of Hong Kong Trade Unions (CTU).

CTU is Hong Kong’s largest coalition of opposition trade unions that was disbanded in 2021 after some of its members received messages threatening their safety, the group said at the time.

Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing Wen Wei Po newspaper said Tang had been arrested by the city’s national security police on charges of “conspiring with a foreign power” and “endangering national security.”

Sources close to the couple said Tang was arrested after visiting her husband, Lee Cheuk-yan. Lee, 66, is one of Hong Kong’s leading democracy activists, who has been jailed for holding unauthorized meetings and other offences.

The source declined to be identified out of fear of reprisals from the authorities. Hong Kong police did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

More than 230 people, including opposition politicians and activists, have been jailed or charged in Hong Kong under a national security law announced by Beijing in 2020 in response to massive pro-democracy protests a year earlier.

The law has been criticized by some Western governments who say it is a tool to curb free speech and dissent.

The Hong Kong and Chinese governments say the law has brought stability to the city, and reject claims it is being used to target democratic opposition. [uh/ab]