Hong Kong authorities have cancelled the passports of 12 activists based overseas in their latest crackdown on activities that they claim pose threats to national security.

Hong Kong’s Security Bureau announced the measures on Monday after a local court issued arrest warrants last month for the 12 activists and seven other pro-democracy campaigners over their alleged roles in establishing an unofficial parliament overseas.

The bureau said it had also banned individuals from providing financial support or leasing property to 16 of the “absconders,” and entering into joint ventures or partnerships with them.

The wanted activists include Chongyi Feng, an Australian citizen and professor at the University of Technology Sydney, and Sasha Gong, a United States citizen and journalist who previously worked for Voice of America.

Hong Kong authorities allege that the 19 activists’ participation in the “Hong Kong Parliament” advocacy group constitutes subversion under the Chinese-ruled city’s sweeping national security law.

A Hong Kong government spokesperson said the activists had continued to “blatantly engage in activities that endanger national security” while hiding in countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia.

The Hong Kong parliament condemned last month’s announcement of arrest warrants and bounties for the campaigners as a “blatant abuse of legal instruments to pursue political persecution”.

“These actions represent a clear escalation of Beijing’s transnational repression, extending its coercive reach beyond China’s borders and infringing upon the sovereignty of democratic nations, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia, and members of the European Union,” the group said.

Once known for its spirited political opposition and media, Hong Kong has radically curtailed the space for dissent since the introduction of a sweeping Beijing-decreed national security law in 2020 in response to violent anti-government protests.

Opposition parties have been effectively eliminated from the city’s legislature, and public commemorations of sensitive events, such as the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, essentially outlawed.

Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee said last month that 332 individuals had been arrested for national offences since 2020.

Mainland Chinese and Hong Kong officials have defended the law, and additional national security legislation introduced in 2024, as necessary to restore stability to the city after the turmoil caused by the mass protests. (Aljazeera)