Hong Kong activist in UK exile fears he could be kidnapped after £100,000 bounty put on his head

Prominent pro-democracy campaigner Nathan Law opens up to Maroosha Muzaffar about the rising threat of abduction – and how he won’t stop speaking out against the erosion of Hong Kong’s freedoms by Beijing

Nathan Law (AP)

One of the most prominent members of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement says the threat of “cross-border abduction” is “getting higher and higher” after a bounty worth HK$1m (£100,000) was offered for his arrest.

The Hong Kong police declared this week that it was offering a bounty for any information that could lead to the arrest of eight overseas activists, former lawmakers, and lawyers. The city’s top leader John Lee emphasised that the dissidents will be “pursued for life” under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law, which outlaws subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorism.

One of them, Nathan Law, 29, lives in exile in the UK. The 2018 Nobel Peace Prize nominee tells The Independent that there is a heavy mental toll as the threats step up – calling the bounty for each of the dissidents “unprecedented”.