Veteran Hong Kong union leader Elizabeth Tang arrested after visiting activist husband in prison

Hong Kong: The Hong Kong police on Thursday arrested veteran union leader Elizabeth Tang, soon after she paid a visit to her pro-democracy activist husband who is jailed at a high security prison, according to domestic media reports. Tang is the General Secretary of the International Domestic Workers Federation and the former chief executive of the now disbanded Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions (CTU). The erstwhile CTU was Hong Kong’s largest opposition trade union coalition that dissolved in 2021 after several members received messages threatening their safety, the group had said at that time. Hong Kong’s pro-Beijing Wen Wei Po newspaper said Tang had been arrested by the city’s national security police for allegedly “colluding with foreign forces”. She has also been accused of “endangering national security” by the government of the city state. A person known to the couple said she had been arrested after visiting her husband, Lee Cheuk-yan. Lee, 66, is one of Hong Kong’s leading pro-democracy activists, who has been jailed for unlawful assembly and other offences. The person refused to be identified due to fear of reprisals from the authorities. Hong Kong police has not commented or put out any statement on the matter. Over 230 people, including opposition activists and politicians, have been jailed or charged in Hong Kong under a national security law promulgated by Beijing in 2020 in response to mass pro-democracy protests that the city-state saw a year earlier. The harsh law has been criticised by some Western governments as a tool to curb free speech and dissent in Hong Kong. On Monday, the United Nations’ Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural rights urged Chinese and Hong Kong authorities to review the security law, and expressed concern over a trade union ordinance which it said had been used to “hamper the exercise of the rights to freely form trade unions”. In response, both the Hong Kong and Chinese governments have declared that the law has brought stability to the city, and rejected claims it has been used to target democratic opposition or curb dissent. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.