Illicit boat journeys ferrying HK protesters to Taiwan have been getting riskier. So the 12 HKers cut out middlemen, bought their own boat and trained to be seafarers. A Portuguese national is among them. @washingtonpost exclusive on the intercepted boat:https://t.co/L8nbcOgUzo

— Shibani Mahtani (@ShibaniMahtani) August 31, 2020

The latest Hong Kong police statement, sent to me this evening, says that 11 out of the 12 on the boat were barred from leaving Hong Kong; their passports seized as a condition of their bail. Not all of their charges carried the same gravity pic.twitter.com/ilP5khb9Dc

— Shibani Mahtani (@ShibaniMahtani) August 31, 2020

The presence of a foreign national on board, a Portuguese citizen, adds complications for Beijing/Hong Kong, and turns this into an international affair. Portugal is also an EU member state.

— Shibani Mahtani (@ShibaniMahtani) August 31, 2020

"I want him back and happy like before," the person said of the friend, now in detention in mainland China. "I want to play and hang out again every day just like before." Note the language — play and hang out — and keep in mind that those detained are btwn 16 – 33 yrs old

— Shibani Mahtani (@ShibaniMahtani) August 31, 2020

OMG they need to train themselves to flee. Just can’t believe Hong Kong people need to do this to get themselves free from arbitrary charges. Hope they will be safe and won’t be the first extradition cases under #NationalSecurityLaw. #save12hkyouth

— McKay-Bennett’s speaking (@McKBenLove0T) August 31, 2020

Local media reports say 12 people from Hong Kong have been arrested while sailing to Taiwan to apply for political asylum. https://t.co/RdTt4BjTBt

— SBS News (@SBSNews) August 27, 2020

2. It reportedly includes Andy Li, who was previously arrested under #nationalsecuritylaw, on the same day when pro-democracy media mogul #Jimmylai was arrested.

— Joshua Wong 黃之鋒 😷 (@joshuawongcf) August 27, 2020

4. With a more stringent #nationalsecuritylaw in #China, as well as other draconian criminal laws #HK doesn’t have, it is worrying that they could be sent to #China’s secret courts & black prisons, with restricted access to lawyers & high risk of forced confession under torture.

— Joshua Wong 黃之鋒 😷 (@joshuawongcf) August 27, 2020

6. Since their situation is extremely critical, given #China's highly controversial criminal justice system in black box, we hope the world can keep watch on the development and especially hope that they can be back safe.

— Joshua Wong 黃之鋒 😷 (@joshuawongcf) August 27, 2020