LONDON – The “wanted” posters were sent by post and arrived at the houses of Carmen Lau’s Buren in the city of Maidenhead.
The alleged crime? Speaking of China’s rule in Hong Kong, where Lau has not lived since 2021.
Give information about Lau to the Hong Kong Police Force, insisted on the poster, folded in envelopes with stamps from Hong Kong or “Bring her to the Chinese embassy.”
The reward: 1 million Hong Kong dollars, or $ 130,000.
The flyers that came in This city is 7 miles from Windsor Castle The newest threat aimed at the pro-democracy of Hong Kong, which the city fled to escape from the long arm of Chinese law, only to discover that intimidation can cross boundaries.
Lau, who spoke with NBC News from outside the United Kingdom on Friday, said that she “did not feel safe at my current address”, and now weighed temporary residence options elsewhere. (NBC News does not reveal Lau’s current location for its safety.)
Joshua Reynolds, MP’s MP, says that at least five people reported that they received the letters.
“They are not sure what to do about it, they are not sure why they received it, or what was going on,” he said on Friday in a telephone interview and added that he had called Lau about them.
Reynolds showed NBC News three identical posters that include Lau’s Headshot and information, including an address, date of birth, ethnicity, construction and height. Reynolds said he is aware of at least one other Hong Kong activist whose neighbors have received similar letters.
“A reward of a million dollars in Hong Kong is offered by the police of Hong Kong to every member of the public, who can provide information about this sought -after person and can bring the associated crime or her to the Chinese embassy,” it says.
Those with information must contact an e -mail address or the British WhatsApp number of the Hong Kong Police Force, says it.
“The mildness is because they want to silence us and they want to teach us fear in our diaspora,” said Lau, who fled Hong Kong in 2021 after the former British colony had introduced a major and vague formulated National Security Act that gave the government more power to destroy deviating opinions.
The law followed a political performance caused by the protests of Hong Kong 2019 2019. It threatens strict fines for a wide range of actions that call authorities for national security, with the most serious – including betrayal and uprising – punished by life imprisonment. Small offenses, including the possession of inflammatory publications, can also lead to a few years in prison.
Lau was proclaimed a criminal by the police After she fled Hong Kong. The city The police placed the premium after she had accused her of violating the National Security Act and calling her return.
She said that Hong Kong’s police had taken her family members for it twice this month. NBC News could not confirm her account.
Reynolds called the posters ‘terrible’ and said that it was ‘just not acceptable’ if it was true that the flyers were sent from China.
It was not clear who sent the posters. A spokesperson for the Hong Kong government said it would “not give anonymous letter”, but that it “will certainly chase” those who had fled the territory “in accordance with the law” and “take every measure” to bring them back.
The Chinese embassy in London did not immediately respond to NBC News request for comments.
Anonymous intimidation has also been a problem within Hong Kong. In September the Hong Kong Journalist Association said that people from dozens of media sales points had received threatening reports in a “systematic and organized” campaign, and called it the greatest intimidation of reporters who had ever seen it.
This is not the first time that there are concerns about the security of Hong Kong democracy activists who lived in Great -Britain, who took more than 120,000 people from the former colony in response to the National Security Act.
Last May the British authorities accused three men, including the office manager of the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office in London, with the research and collecting information against Hong Kong -Democracy activists.
Later that month one of the men, Matthew Trickett, was found dead in a park, also in Maidenhead. Two other men, Chung Bi Yuen and Chi Leung Peter Wai, will be on trial next month. They deny the charges, including breaking into a home.
Chinese officials have called the charges ‘unfounded and defamatory’.
Reynolds, Member of Maiden’s parliament, said that residents in the city “were concerned that this seems as if the Chinese are trying to interfere in the UK and that they don’t want to get afraid of what happens.”
He added that the police had told him that they made sure that Lau “gets the protection and safety she needs.”
The police of Thames Valley did not immediately respond to the request of NBC News for comments.
Reynolds, a member of the Liberal Democrats of the opposition, said that he was ‘worried’ about the approach of the British government towards China.
The Labor Party, currently in power, is accused of complacency towards Beijing after ministers have indicated their support for China’s proposed plan to build a “megakambassade” in London.
The plan was also criticized by the American legislators, Rep. John Moolenaar, R-Mich., And Rep. Chris Smith, RN.J., who both serve on the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party. In an open letter on Wednesday they said that a Chinese embassy of that scale “would only encourage his efforts to intimidate and bother British citizens and dissidents and experts throughout Europe.”
A spokesperson for the British government said on Friday in an e -mail statement that “attempts from foreign governments to force their critics abroad, intimidate, harass or harm, who undermine democracy and the rule of law”, adding that they would “encourage everyone to report concern to the police”.
The British Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comments on criticism of the Chinese embassy plans.
Lau said she was not contacted by the home office of Groot -Britain, the government department responsible for immigration and security, or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“I will just continue my work, because if I went back or if I really silence myself, that’s what they want,” she added.
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