Hong Kong Jails Father of U.S.-Based Activist Under Article 23

A Hong Kong court on Thursday sentenced 69‑year‑old Kwok Yin‑sang to eight months in prison under the city’s new domestic national security law, Article 23, for handling financial assets belonging to his daughter, U.S.-based pro‑democracy activist Anna Kwok. Prosecutors said he committed a crime by trying to withdraw money from an education savings insurance policy he bought for her when she was two, arguing that providing any financial support to a wanted 'absconder' is now illegal. Anna Kwok, 29, who lives in Washington, D.C., and leads the Hong Kong Democracy Council, is one of more than two dozen overseas activists on whom Hong Kong has placed a HK$1 million (about $127,000) bounty, and she told NPR the case is "ridiculous" and a politicized attempt to punish her through her family. Legal experts say this is the first time a family member of a Hong Kong activist has been jailed over a relative’s overseas advocacy and see it as a move toward “legalized collective punishment” that mirrors tactics Beijing has long used against dissidents, Uyghurs and Tibetans by detaining or harassing relatives who remain under its control. The case underscores how Hong Kong authorities are broadening the reach of national security laws to deter diaspora lobbying abroad, including in the United States, by putting pressure on families who cannot leave.