Hong Kong Arrests Singer Tommy Yuen on National Security Grounds, Restricts Internet

variety.com:

Vivienne Chow Police in Hong Kong on Tuesday arrested Tommy Yuen, a popular singer and pro-democracy campaigner. Local media and rights groups reported that Hong Kong authorities have also blocked access in the city to a pro-democracy website operated from the U.K.Yuen, a former member of the Canto-pop boy band E-kids, was arrested by national security police over the suspicion of sedition and money laundering.

He has not been charged.Senior superintendent Steve Li declined to name Yuen as the 41-year-old man was taken away by national security officers.

But he said during a press briefing that the man was arrested for making comments in public and online on social media that were deemed carrying “seditious intent.”  The singer’s seditious acts, said Li, included the performance of a song containing lyrics “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times” — a widely used slogan during the 2019 pro-democracy protests — in an online concert in November last year.

Li said during last July’s first trial of a national security case, the court had established that the slogan could incite people to support secession of Hong Kong from China.