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.”
The spokesperson did not directly answer as to whether the government would retract the claim about Law jumping bail, or whether the statement was potentially defamatory.
“We have to point out that it is Nathan Law, an absconder betraying Hong Kong, who constantly defames Hong Kong and the Central Government by making untruthful and malicious remarks. We will pursue him and all other fugitives with every means to ensure that they will be brought to justice.”
When asked again whether Law had skipped bail, a follow-up statement referred to the first one claiming they had stated “very clearly our stance and what Law has done.”
On Twitter, shareholder activist David Webb – who first spotted the discrepancy – said the claim appeared to be “false and defamatory.”
‘Fake news’
The gaffe over the status of Law is not the first time the authorities have aired misleading statements this month.
A week previously, security chief Chris Tang claimed that a report citing the 2019 police siege of the Chinese University of Hong Kong was “fake news” as officers never entered the campus. But photos later showed that they had crossed onto the campus and battled with pro-democracy demonstrators during the anti-extradition law protests and unrest.
In April, Chief Executive Carrie Lam said that Hong Kong’s government was the “biggest victim of fake news.”
She has vowed to crack down on misinformation with a “fake news” law and greater supervision of the media.
Correction 10 a.m.: An early version of this article incorrectly stated the date of the democracy summit.
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