Four or more British nationals have received consular assistance for “mistreatment or torture” they endured while under detention in Hong Kong in 2019 and 2020, according to a local media report.

The cases came to light in the monthly consular data released by the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, according to a report in the South China Morning Post. Between 2019, when the months-long anti-government protests rocked the city, and the summer of 2020, when the national security law was implemented, “less than five” such cases were reported in each of four different months, the office said.

Consular assistance provided to the cases were recorded in December 2019 and in June, July and August of 2020, but the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office did not elaborate on the details. The last time the consulate handled and reported such a case was in 2017.

One of the cases reportedly involved Simon Cheng, a former British consulate employee who was seized by mainland Chinese law enforcement officials at the mainland-managed section of Kowloon’s high-speed rail terminus, upon returning from a business trip. He was reportedly detained in Shenzhen for two weeks.

Another case involved a British human rights activist who claimed he was an observer when Polytechnic University was besieged by police in mid-November 2019. He was released after being detained for one night.

Not all the cases were political, however. Some of the cases reported in the summer of 2020 “were not political nor protest-related and were unrelated to the national security law,” the report wrote, citing sources with knowledge of the matter.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office had earlier warned Britons who have both British and Chinese nationalities that they would not receive consular assistance. It also revised its advice to British detainees in Hong Kong, noting that the national security law was extraterritorial and applicable to everyone regardless of nationality. It raised the possibilities of trial without jury or facing trial in a mainland court, the office warned.

The Security Bureau said in a reply to the South China Morning Post that allegations of torture or mistreatment by Hong Kong law enforcement agencies were serious and required more information in order to launch an investigation.

Apple Daily has approached the British consulate and the Security Bureau for comments.

Click here for Chinese version

---------------------------------

Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE

To download the latest version,

iOS: bit.ly/AD_iOS

Android: bit.ly/AD_android

Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play