She was one in all six individuals arrested in an early morning operation, all linked to on-line media group Stand News. Police later confirmed at a information convention {that a} seventh individual had been arrested. They have been accused by police of “conspiracy to publish seditious materials,” a colonial-era crime.
Ho, a former Stand News board member, was born in Hong Kong however grew up in Canada. She discovered fame within the early 2000s with a string of hit albums, earlier than later constructing a profitable profession as an actress.
She later grew to become a global face of Hong Hong’s pro-democracy motion, showing earlier than each the United Nations and the United States Congress.
Police spent greater than two hours at Ho’s house Wednesday, based on her assistant, who requested to not be named. Officers seized telephones and computer systems, in addition to Ho’s identification card and passport. She was then taken to a police station, based on a put up on Ho’s verified Facebook web page.
Also on Wednesday, some 200 law enforcement officials raided the Stand News workplaces and seized journalistic supplies, based on the Hong Kong authorities and the Hong Kong Journalists Association — elevating additional issues about diminishing press freedoms following the imposition of a sweeping National Security Law on the town in 2020.
The Hong Kong authorities has repeatedly denied criticism that the legislation — which criminalizes acts of secession, subversion, terrorism, and collusion with international forces — has stifled freedoms, claiming as an alternative it has restored order within the metropolis after the 2019 protest motion.
Ho she first took an curiosity in politics in 2012 after popping out as homosexual, but it surely was the 2014 student-led Umbrella Movement — a sequence of huge pro-democracy demonstrations and sit-ins — that noticed her take up a extra outstanding function.
She took to the streets, turning into one of many motion’s most outspoken supporters, and one of many final to be hauled off by police after they cleared the protest camps.
“I’ve this youthful technology who listens to my music,” Ho instructed CNN in 2017. “So I feel I’ve this accountability to do the appropriate factor, and never unfold worry by my actions.”
When pro-democracy, anti-government protests as soon as once more consumed Hong Kong in 2019, she continued marching with demonstrators — but additionally used her platform to hunt help internationally.In July 2019, she spoke earlier than the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, urging the UN to “defend the individuals of Hong Kong” and take away China from the council. She argued China had reneged on the commitments it made when it took management of Hong Kong in 1997, echoing the issues of hundreds of thousands of Hong Kongers protesting on the time.
During the UN tackle, Chinese diplomats repeatedly interrupted, accusing her of violating the UN structure and of “baselessly” attacking Hong Kong’s “one nation, two techniques” mannequin of governance.
Her activism has additionally drawn different repercussions through the years — together with being blacklisted and censored in mainland China.
Chinese state media has attacked Ho as “Hong Kong poison” in earlier years. In 2016, amid amid criticism of Ho from Beijing, luxurious model Lancome canceled a promotional live performance that includes the star, citing “security causes.”
CNN’s Nectar Gan, James Griffiths, Teele Rebane and Jadyn Sham contributed reporting.