An activist wanted by Hong Kong’s national security police has reportedly been blocked by Thai authorities from flying to Canada for resettlement, according to local media.
Zhang Xinyan. Screenshot: Hong Kong Parliament, via YouTube.
Zhang Xinyan, who has been detained in Thailand since her May arrest for allegedly overstaying her visa , was meant to board a flight to Vancouver last Wednesday, Canada-based activist Zang Xihong said on X.
But Zang wrote that she received a phone call from Zhang the next day saying that Thai police suddenly intervened and stopped her from leaving. Zang is also known by her pen name Sheng Xue.
According to the Canada-based activist, Zhang is a Chinese dissident who practises Falun Gong, a spiritual movement that is banned in China. She fled to Thailand in 2014, and her Chinese passport was revoked by the Chinese embassy in Bangkok.
She then obtained refugee status from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Zhang Xinyan’s United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees documentation showing official refugee status. Photo: ShengXue_ca, via X.
The activist said that Canada’s diplomatic mission had arranged interviews and medical check-ups for her, and booked a flight for her to be resettled in Vancouver.
‘Transnational repression’
Zhang, 55, is wanted by Hong Kong’s national security police for allegedly committing subversion, a crime under Article 23 – also known as Hong Kong’s homegrown national security law.
She is wanted for her involvement in the “Hong Kong Parliament,” a group of overseas activists who held unofficial polls outside the city to form a shadow legislature to “pursue the ideal of Hong Kong people ruling Hong Kong.”
Police issued an arrest warrant for her last July , with a bounty of HK$200,000 offered to informants.
A wanted notice on the Hong Kong police’s website for Zhang Xinyan. Screenshot: Hong Kong Police Force.
In a statement sent to HKFP on Monday, Human Rights Watch’s senior Thailand advisor Sunai Phasuk described the situation as “ongoing transnational repression.”
“To please Beijing, successive Thai governments have violated their legal and human rights obligations by arresting and forcibly returning hundreds of Uyghurs to face abuse and persecution under Beijing’s repressive rule in Xinjiang,” Phasuk said.
Zhang was arrested in May for allegedly overstaying her visa, and was held at the Suan Phlu Immigration Detention Centre in Bangkok.
At the time, Hong Kong’s Security Bureau said it would not comment on news reports about law enforcement actions in other jurisdictions.
A Canada flag. Photo: Bogdan Krupin, via Pexels.
“Endangering national security is an extremely serious crime… no fugitive should harbour the illusion that they can evade criminal liability by fleeing Hong Kong,” the bureau said in a statement.
HKFP has reached out to the Security Bureau for an updated comment.