The ex-lawmaker – who was not on bail when he left for the UK – told HKFP that the government was “lying and trying to stigmatise me.”
A Hong Kong government statement which condemned self-exiled former-lawmaker Nathan Law for “untruthful remarks” inaccurately claimed that the activist had jumped bail when he left for the UK last year.
The statement slammed Law as a fugitive, calling his comments shameless, defamatory and outrageous: “[T]here is no room for slandering,” it said.
“Contrary to his claim of being ‘persecuted,’ Law is a fugitive, who is suspected to have committed criminal offences in Hong Kong and chose to jump bail and abscond. He is a person without integrity,” the spokesperson claimed on Friday. “He also made remarks on many occasions to incite secession and subversion of the state power, allegedly breaching the National Security Law.”
However, Law left of his own accord last July and had not been on bail at the time.
He told HKFP on Saturday that the government was “lying and trying to stigmatise me.” He called the statement false, adding that it was “unacceptable.”
| Date | Timeline |
|---|---|
| 2 July 2020 | Law announces on Twitter he has left Hong Kong for the UK out of security concerns, days after the national security law is passed and his group, Demosisto, is disbanded. |
| 1 August, 2020 | Chinese state media report that Law is wanted by Hong Kong police for allegedly violating the national security law, though the Force refuses to confirm. |
| 16 October, 2020 | An arrest warrant is issued for Law after he fails to appear in court over banned Tiananmen Massacre commemoration. |
| 7 April, 2021 | Law says the UK has granted him asylum. |
| 10 December, 2021 | The Hong Kong government falsely claims Law has skipped bail after he speaks at a democracy summit hosted by US President Joe Biden. |
Friday’s statement echoed Beijing in calling the summit a “disguise for [the US] to unilaterally impose its standards on other countries, undermining democracy and creating divisions in the world.”
‘Chose to jump bail’
When asked to clarify their statement, a spokesperson on Saturday repeated Friday’s statement to HKFP saying Law was a fugitive who fled to escape punishment: “The clear fact is that a summons was issued to Law for his suspected criminal offences but he failed to appear in court. The court later issued an arrest warrant seeking for his return to stand trial.”
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