Hong Kong police say 47 Hong Kong democrats and activists have been charged with one count each of “conspiracy to commit subversion” under a new national security law.The democrats reported to local police stations across the city Sunday, as a crackdown on the democratic opposition intensifies.Benny Tai, one of the organizers of an unofficial primary election last summer, was one of those formally charged.Tai was arrested in a dawn raid along with more than 50 other democrats on Jan. 6 in the largest national security operation since the law’s passage last June.They were accused of organizing and participating in an unofficial primary election last July aimed at selecting the strongest candidates for a legislative council election.The democrats were detained at the time, questioned, and some said their mobile phones and computers were confiscated, but released pending further investigations.”My chance of bail won’t be too great,” wrote Tai, who has been accused by Chinese authorities of being a key tactician for the pro-democracy movement in the former British colony.Those also called in by Hong Kong police include John Clancey, a U.S. citizen and human rights lawyer, as well as a group of younger democratic activists including Lester Shum, Sam Cheung, Ventus Lau and Fergus Leung.The democrats denounced the arrests as political persecution for the informal, peaceful poll that drew 600,000 votes in a city of 7.5 million.A rights advocacy group, Power for Democracy, that co-organized the primary elections, said in a Facebook post on Friday that it had disbanded.The Hong Kong police say 99 individuals have been arrested for suspected violations of the security laws so far.Some of these have been denied bail, including media mogul and prominent China critic Jimmy Lai, despite protracted legal appeals.The sweeping national security laws — seen by critics as a threat to Hong Kong’s freedoms and autonomy — punish acts of subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorism with possible life imprisonment.
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