This undated photo shows the headquarters of the Hong Kong Police Force in Hong Kong. (PHOTO / XINHUA)
HONG KONG – The National Security Department (NSD) of the Hong Kong Police Force has arrested two women in separate cases for suspected collusion with foreign forces and inciting secession.
In a statement issued late on Thursday, the force said it arrested a 65-year-old woman on Hong Kong Island the same day on suspicion of collusion with a foreign country or with external elements to endanger national security, contravening Article 29 of the National Security Law.
The Reuters news agency identified the arrestee as Elizabeth Tang, the former chief executive of the now disbanded Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions and the general secretary of the International Domestic Workers Federation.
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She was arrested after she had visited her activist husband Lee Cheuk-yan who is jailed at a high security prison, the Reuters report said citing a source close to the couple and local media.
Lee, 66, has been jailed for unlawful assembly and other offences.
Earlier on Wednesday, the NSD arrested a 23-year-old woman in Sau Mau Ping in the city on suspicion of inciting secession, contravening Article 20 and 21 of the National Security Law, according to the HKPF statement.
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The force said she was suspected of publishing online posts that incited Hong Kong independence.
The two women were detained for enquiries.
With Reuters inputs