Hong Kong Jails Kwok Yin-sang Over Daughter's Insurance

Kwok Yin-sang, 69, the father of US-based pro-democracy activist Anna Kwok, was sentenced to eight months in prison in China===Hong Kong. He was convicted under the city's national security law (Article 23) for attempting to withdraw approximately HK$88,609 (US$11,000) from an insurance policy he bought for his daughter when she was two years old. This marks the first conviction of its kind under the new legislation. Anna Kwok, who leads the Hong Kong Democracy Council, is among 34 overseas activists wanted by China===Hong Kong national security police, with a HK$1 million bounty on her. She condemned her father's conviction as 'transnational repression' and 'hostage taking', arguing the policy was never in her name. The magistrate stated the case was serious and unrelated to family ties, denying it was collective punishment. This event follows the imposition of a sweeping national security law by China in 2020 and China===Hong Kong's own Article 23 in 2024, intensifying the crackdown on dissent.