Event Summary
On 27 February 2026, Hong Kong court sentenced Kwok Yin-sang, 69-year-old father of US-based activist Anna Kwok, to eight months imprisonment for national security violation: the first family member of wanted activist abroad sentenced to prison. He was convicted on 11 February 2026 under Article 23 for attempting to handle financial assets of “absconder” after trying to withdraw approximately $11,000 from insurance policy he purchased for daughter when she was child. Kwok Yin-sang pleaded not guilty to this charge. The defence argued insurance policy remained under father’s name and belonged to him, but prosecutors argued Anna automatically became policy holder upon reaching adulthood.
Anna Kwok, 29, is one of 34 activists wanted by national security police for alleged foreign collusion, with a HK$1 million bounty offered. She serves as executive director of Washington-based Hong Kong Democracy Council, which lobbied US Congress to reconsider Hong Kong trade office operations. Kwok stated father’s prosecution aimed at silencing her advocacy abroad: “My father’s case really shows how political freedoms is reaching new low in Hong Kong. And how Hong Kong government, learning from Beijing, is committed to repress any sort of freedoms or any sort of campaign Hong Kongers dare to wage.” Kwok’s brother was arrested on same suspicion but only father charged. Since 2023, police questioned at least 50 family members of 19 “absconders” ranging from immediate family to cousins and in-laws. Hong Kong government stated law enforcement actions “have nothing to do with their political stance, background or occupation” and authorities “have responsibility to pursue those who are suspected to have committed offences endangering national security, even if they have absconded overseas.” Anna Kwok responded: “Hong Kong’s government definitely wants to silence me. They want me to stop speaking out. And of course they have failed.”