Chinese authorities have started prosecuting 12 Hong Kong activists caught while allegedly fleeing the city by boat for Taiwan, officials said Wednesday.

The group was caught by the coastguard some 70 kilometres (43 miles) southeast of the city on August 23, authorities said previously, before being handed to police in the mainland metropolis of Shenzhen.

In a social media notice, the People's Procuratorate of Yantian District in Shenzhen said Tang Kai-yin and Quinn Moon were suspected of organising for others to cross the border.

Eight others stand accused of an illegal border crossing.

Two minors face non-public hearings, according to the notice.

The activists -- whose arrests were formally approved in September -- had disappeared into China's opaque judicial system since their capture, with lawyers struggling for access and family members expressing fear over their fate.

Some of those aboard the boat faced prosecution in Hong Kong for activities linked to last year's huge and often violent pro-democracy protests.

Lu Siwei, a mainland Chinese lawyer working on the case, told AFP the court was expected to hand down a verdict on the case within two to three months.

Although Hong Kong has its own internationally respected legal system -- where detainees are promptly produced after their arrest and tried in open court -- the mainland's judicial system is notoriously opaque, with conviction all but guaranteed.

In June, Beijing imposed a new security law on Hong Kong, announcing it would have jurisdiction for some crimes and that mainland security agents could openly operate in the city.

With Beijing clamping down on Hong Kong's democracy movement, Taiwan emerged as a sanctuary, quietly turning a blind eye to residents turning up without proper visas or paperwork.

China crackdown on rights lawyers 'shocking': UN expert
Geneva (AFP) Dec 16, 2020 - A UN rights expert on Wednesday slammed a years-long crackdown on rights defenders and lawyers in China, highlighting the case of one attorney who disappeared after revealing he was tortured in detention.

Mary Lawlor, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, warned that a clampdown that began more than five years ago aimed at courtroom critics of Communist authorities was continuing unabated.

Rights activists and their lawyers continue to be charged, detained, disappeared and tortured, said the independent expert, who does not speak on behalf of the United Nations.

"Since the so-called 709 crackdown began on 9 July 2015, the profession of human rights lawyer has been effectively criminalised in China," she said.

In her statement, which was endorsed by seven other UN rights experts, Lawlor pointed to the recent arrest and "enforced disappearance" of activist and attorney Chang Weiping as emblematic of Beijing's efforts to silence lawyers who speak out about the deterioration of human rights in the country.

The lawyer, she said, was placed by security officials in Baoji city in a form of secret extrajudicial detention typically used against dissidents, known as "residential surveillance in a designated location" (RSDL), for 10 days last January.

He was held on suspicion of "subversion of state power" and his licence was annulled, she said.

Just days after he posted a video online in October describing the torture and ill-treatment he was allegedly subjected to during his detention, he was detained again and returned to RSDL "in retaliation for his video.

"Since then, the defender's whereabouts remain unknown, his lawyers have been unable to contact him and no charges have been brought against him," Wednesday's statement said.

Lawlor slammed the "shocking display of disregard for human rights" shown by the authorities, who "have re-arrested a human rights defender for courageously sharing his experience and denouncing human rights violations.

"The fact that the lawyers initially hired by Mr. Weiping's family to represent him have both withdrawn from his case due to pressure they received from officials is also telling of the gravity and scale of the situation faced by human rights defenders and lawyers in China.

"Fundamental human rights are not a threat to any government or society, and neither are the individuals who defend those rights," she added.

"I urge the Chinese authorities to release at once Chang Weiping and all other detained and disappeared human rights defenders."

Hong Kong civil servants begin making loyalty oaths
Hong Kong (AFP) Dec 16, 2020 - Hong Kong civil servants swore a new pledge of allegiance to the government Wednesday in the first ceremony overseen by the city's leader to enforce greater loyalty in the governing class after last year's huge democracy protests.

Chief executive Carrie Lam stood before a group of senior officials at a closed-door ceremony for the pledge, which all the finance hub's 180,000 civil servants will be expected to make in the coming weeks.

Those taking the oath promise to uphold Hong Kong's mini-constitution and "bear allegiance" to the city and its government.

A government spokesperson said the oath-taking would "strengthen the public's confidence in political-appointed officials".

Civil servants were one of the groups that took to the streets in large numbers last year calling for greater democracy and police accountability.

Tens of thousands joined one rally that was expressly organised by civil servants -- some of whom posted anonymised ID cards online as a way to signal their support for the movement -- a move that infuriated Beijing.

China's authoritarian leaders dismissed the protests and have overseen a widespread crackdown on dissent in the city this year.

It imposed a sweeping security law on the territory in June and has called for patriotism and loyalty to be installed across Hong Kong society.

The pledges are part of that drive.

The city's civil service minister has warned those who refused to take an oath of loyalty or sign similar declarations could lose their jobs.

Authorities argue civil servants have to abide by political neutrality rules and should not have joined last year's protests.

Local media reported other ranks of civil servants will be asked to sign declarations of loyalty and the whole process is expected to be completed next month.

All new hires within the civil service already have to sign a mandatory loyalty pledge.

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Hong Kong media mogul appears in court on national security charge
Hong Kong (AFP) Dec 12, 2020
Hong Kong media tycoon and Beijing critic Jimmy Lai appeared in court Saturday to face a charge under a sweeping new national security law that see him jailed for life. He is accused of colluding with foreign countries by calling on overseas governments to sanction Hong Kong and China in response to the crackdown on pro-democracy activism in the city. Lai, 73, is the most high-profile figure charged under the law, which has targeted the city's pro-democracy movement but brought a semblance of ca ... read more