Singapore denies the entry to activist of the exiled HK pro-democracy

A pro-democracy activist who fled Hong Kong was denied entry into Singapore despite a visa, the city-state claiming that its presence “would not be in national interests”.

Nathan Law, who lives in exile in the United Kingdom, said that he arrived in Singapore on Saturday to attend a conference “behind closed doors and only” but was owned on the border for four hours.

“I was not asked questions and they did not give any reasons for denial,” he told the BBC.

Mr. Law is wanted by the Hong Kong authorities who accused him of having endangered national security, noted the Department of Internal Affairs of Singapore.

Singapore has an extradition treaty with Hong Kong.

“The entry and presence of Mr. Law in the country would not be in the national interests of Singapore,” said the ministry spokesman in response to BBC questions.

“A holder of a visa is always subject to new checks at the start of the country. This is what happened with Nathan’s law,” he said, adding that Mr. Law had been sent back to “interrogation and evaluation of immigration and security” after landing.

Singapore is known to be careful about foreign policy. In a statement published last year, the government said that it “took a clear and strong position against the importation of other countries policy in Singapore”.

In a press release, Mr. Law said he believed The refusal of the entry was for “political” reasons. “I do not know if the external forces, like the RPC (People’s Republic of China), are involved, directly or indirectly,” he said.

Law said he had asked for a visa that would have allowed him a “unique entry for a few days”, And that he was approved three weeks before his departure. He said he has a British refugee travel document.

On Sunday, the activist was on the first return flight to San Francisco, where he left first.

The organizers of the event he was to attend refused to comment on the BBC.

Mr. Law, a former legislator of Hong Kong, is one of the most important figures of the city’s pro-democracy movement, fled the city in 2020 after China imposed a national security law which targets secession, subversion and terrorism with sanctions to life prison.

In 2021, he obtained asylum in the United Kingdom.

Hong Kong authorities have offered HK $ 1 million awards ($ 128,000; £ 95,000) for information that can help them arrest Mr. Law and other pro-democracy activists.

This is not the first incident that the authorities of Singapore took measures concerning the activists of Hong Kong Pro-Democracy.

In 2019, the city of the city condemned a fine to a Singaporean activist for organizing an online forum several years before which featured an eminent activist Joshua Wong in a teleconference call.